Vandread Riders
by Star AJT 84
Summary: The Other World Riders chapter branch into 'Vandread'. Kenzaki and his friends crash on Taraak, they will later encounter the Mejere pirates and afterwards ally with one another for the space adventure of all time.
1. A New Universe Created From Lots

**Vandread Riders**

(A/N: read the 'Other World Riders' prologue chapter)

Ch. 1: _A New Universe Created From Lots_

* * *

Kenzaki wakes in a daze. His vision is blurred and he couldn't see anything. He wanted to wipe his eyes but his muscles feel as stiff and as heavy as rock at the moment. He wants to move but his body doesn't seem to want to comply with his wishes. It's a big enough chore to just to breathe properly. Whatever that phenomenon had done to him was as pretty effective.

"_My son,_" speaks a woman's voice familiar to Kenzaki in the darkness "_Please pray that we'll meet again, for a new lives and fates await for us in the future._"

"MOTHER!"

Finally Kenzaki's breathing returns to normal, following it is feeling throughout his entire body. Kenzaki's hearing seems to return and he hears the sound of a breeze carrying sand. It was a few more seconds before he could feel the temperature rise. His head buzzes with pain only matched by what his eyes were feeling at the moment. He could feel sand beneath him.

'_Eh?_' silently exclaims Kenzaki to himself '_Breeze, pebbles, sand, higher heat, marching, the voices of multiple men, and sounds that belong in a science fiction movie? Where the heck am I sent to?_'

Deciding that lying on the ground not knowing where he is isn't the best idea in the world. With a small groan, he opened his eyes to see the blurry scenery and some kind of green blob surrounding him. Kenzaki took a moment to wipe his eyes and get them back in focus.

Whoever had said the last statement had been talking about Kenzaki as he moved his arm to begin standing up. The witnesses began to panic as they watched him push himself up to his knees. After a few more minutes of labored breathing, he managed to turn his head to check his surroundings.

He _is _in the middle of a desert, and of red-orange. Around him he sees bizarre rock formations. Nearby are a bunch of young men marching onward. Said other men are walking onto civilization, which is close by.

Looking back to ground level, Kenzaki can see that he isn't alone. Chousuke isn't far away from him, tossing and turning on the desert ground. Leaning behind against another rock formation nearby is Hana, who is waking up, and closer to her is Nami, who is still a little dazed. Luckily, none of them appear hurt. Around them are eight small rectangular metal chests and four slightly larger ones.

Chousuke groans out "Oohh… what am I lying on? It feels like sand." The younger boy gets up, opens his eyes, rubs them to get them back in focus, and gasps in shock and amazement "OMG! What planet did we end up on?" "Some of us like to know what too" agrees Kenzaki.

Nami mumbles in her unconsciousness "Oh… Mmm… Okaasan, it's too early." Chousuke groans, "Your mother isn't here, Nami-san." Nami opens her eyes, "Oh that's right." She struggles to her feet from the ground with what she would consider monumental effort. She then turns to Kenzaki with furious eyes, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Mou!" sighs Hana, "why do you always blame Kenzaki, Nami?" "How can you be so sure he didn't cause all those strange lights to disorient us and dragged us out here in the desert?" explains Nami. Calmly, Hana retorts with a simple question "Since when were there any deserts in a small if not mostly forested and mountainous island country like Japan?"

Nami reluctantly looks around, then gasps in shocking realization; even someone like Kenzaki couldn't have possibly placed them all in the middle of a mysterious desert and Japan is mostly forest and mountains but hardly any desert. She blanches and admits, "Okay, it's not Kenzaki's fault. I am sorry." Hana nods "Now that's more like it."

Nami asks "But why did he use those… sparkly phenomenon-like thingies that he used to lasso us with?" Hana stretches herself and says, "He probably noticed that those solid star-like objects were safe enough to hold and were holding onto each other like they were magnetized to only each other well enough to use as a rope at the moment. It's highly understandable." Kenzaki nods, "Thank you, Hana-nee."

Chousuke says, "The most important question is where we are and how it happened." Hana says, "Let's go with feeling first; to me it felt like we were falling through space. Last I saw, Kenzaki-kun was the last I've seen of us conscious. Can you tell us what you saw?" Kenzaki shakes his head, "No, I blacked out from all that ever-changing painful sensations of heat, electricity, and cold."

"But it's odd…" quietly says Kenzaki, "what happened to us back there felt just like how my mother disappeared 9 years ago." Nami asks, "Then how come you were with us _back home_?" "I was six years old and I was frightened," answers Kenzaki. Nami widens her eyes and nods, "Makes perfect sense."

Going to the sign, Hana says, "Well, at least there's human life around here and we can comprehend their language from here, judging by the way they speak from here."

Kenzaki walks toward in the trees, Nami asks "What are you doing, Kenzaki?" Kenzaki replies, "I was going to ask a few questions." Nami shakes her head lightly "At least it doesn't hurt to ask."

Chousuke says "Hopefully it won't be stupid, he's got a way with animals better than with people. Do you remember the chaos that befell the city when a circus elephant was rampaging because of it panicking? Well, aniki was the one who calmed him." Nami gasps, "That boy was him?" Hana nods "That was him."

Kenzaki asks the older men, "Can you please tell me where I am?" One of the men blinks at him and asks him "Had you hit your head on something? We're on Cairo's Path to the mineral mining and weapons manufacturing facilities." "Weapons facilities? Are we at war with somebody?" Another young man said to him "No, not now. But we are going to be in 19 months; against those evil women of Mejere."

Nami gasps, then she clasps a hand over her mouth, '_OMG! Men at war with women?! This is hell!_'

Hana mentally gasps, '_Mejere?!_'

Just like that, realization hits Hana like a load of bricks out of a dump truck. Now she knows why the text on the sign resembled something she's seen before. She almost blows a fuse when he realizes it.

Before Kenzaki could raise an argument, Hana picks up a rock and chucks it at Kenzaki's head, knocking him out. Luckily, none of the men take notice of that. She then signals Chousuke to fetch the unconscious Kenzaki…

* * *

Later, Kenzaki comes to in a strange corridor, like that inside a small spaceship, and groans out "Where the heck are we?"

"I'm sorry that I had to throw a rock at your head, Kenzaki-kun," says Hana to him. He turns his gaze to her, seeing her dress herself in a makeshift sarashi and trousers. Nearby her are Nami and Chosuke.

She then turns to him, continuing "But I had to do something to prevent you from saying something like 'women aren't evil, they're just different' or the like; the men of Taraak have believed the horrid propaganda that women are evil monsters that eat their innards for almost a century. From what we've heard from your conversation with those guys, in 19 months the men will wage interstellar war against the women."

Nami asks, "Now the most important question is why those guys are doing that and how you seem to know so much about them, Hana-san. Now please, if you can, please tell us where we are."

She tells her companions "We may very well be in a world known in an anime series called 'Vandread'!"

Her three younger companions exclaim in unison "Anime?!" Then they ask in unison "What is 'Vandread'?"

"Kenzaki-kun," says Hana "Remember 'Star Wars'?" Kenzaki nods, "Who wouldn't?" "Well, the 'Vandread' series is set in a universe where men and women are 100 percent separated from each other and on two completely different planets; the men onto the desert planet of Taraak and women onto the Mejere, the gender wars have become wholly more than just a metaphor. From what we found out from Chousuke while you were unconscious is that they're currently building mecha called the Tsukumo Van-Type Fighters, or simply Vanguard, and also building newer sections onto the former space colonization ship called the Ikazuchi, making it a battleship during precisely the next 19 months and then a week before it launches."

(A/N: 'Ikazuchi' is Japanese for 'Thunder')

Nami's eyes widen in horror, "Wait! They're also planning on using that ship to kill who used to be their females?" "They don't know that truth, and if we were to get the word out that they'll lock us up as prisoners and torture us, possibly to show me and you, Nami, to what they think of _our kind_ just to prove their manliness" replies Hana.

Kenzaki sighs, "Good thing you've stopped me." Then he realizes, "Hey, wait a minute! How did you get such information?" Chousuke speaks up, "Well, the teachers at the training and education facilities here couldn't distinguish me from the other kids. How I was able to get is was pretty easy, despite the odd clothes. Besides, both like to gossip on the so-called 'good news' and I had to do something while you were out cold again for 10 hours now."

Kenzaki then asks, "Hey, wait! I've just got to ask; if you knocked me out and if the Taraakean men don't know about women, where on their planet are we and why does this corridor look familiar?" "Good eyes, Kenzaki" says Hana "we're in the main corridor of what I believe could be a fresh new copy of the Millennium Falcon."

(Millennium Falcon— starship class: light freighter; length: 34.75m; width: 25.61m; height/depth: 8.27m; maximum atmosphere speed: 1050km/h; hyperdrive speed: 80MGLT (34.9761726 Parsecs per hour); crew: 2-4; passengers: 6; cargo capacity: 100 metric tons)

"How did we get this?" asks Kenzaki, "how did the Taraak dudes acquire this?" Hana explains, "I've seen this appear in this chamber when we've fell into this universe. I've also checked the site, but thankfully no man on this planet save for you and Chousuke know about this place."

Kenzaki gets up and looks at the cockpit, "For some strange reason, possibly by the Force, I seem to know how to fly this." Hana nods "Yeah, I look at this and I suddenly have the information too." "Good, because we have got to get out of _here_!" exclaims Nami.

The boys sigh and lie down against one of the mysterious chests. "Have you imagined that it would end like this?" sighs Chousuke. Kenzaki says, "The literal sex wars in space are a surprise." Nami sighs "More like a stupid inconvenience."

Looking at the metal boxes curiously, Chousuke asks, "Where did these metal boxes come from?" Hana answers, "Remember those solid star phenomena? These chests were some of those." They look to her in confusion and she answers, "I woke up some time before we landed here and found the solid star-like phenomena fuse and change into the four chests. One of those chests had some of the items from back home, which are either upgraded or turned into items suitable for this universe to make our lives much more bearable."

The boys excitedly exclaim in unison, "Then we _can _make it here!"

The four open the four chests and inside they find a great deal many items!

Hana pulls out a black hilt, then after taking a firm grasp on it a long silvery blade unfolds from it. "Do you see this Kenzaki-kun?" asks Hana. Kenzaki nods, "At least we have weapons!" "In more ways than one," says Chosuke as he pulls out a metal tube, a folded bow-shaped weapon without a string, a melon-sized tan pod, a big black gun with a circular set dial/display of some kind, , and .

Hana pulls out the big black gun that calls out "DNA confirmed." Hana gasps, "I've got a Lawgiver II gun? Only the Judges in 'Judge Dredd' get this! It also deems me as its worthy wielder?"

The tube opens up into a pike. Chousuke gasps, "What is this?" "That's also a Minbari Fighting Pike from 'Babylon 5'!" answers Hana.

The tan pod opens into a ranged weapon, Hana identifies it "Oh dear… a ZF-1 gun from 'The Fifth Element'? I don't want to start a war on Taraak and alter anything."

Kenzaki asks about the gun she picked up "What does it do?" Hana gets the ZF-1 to close and explains about it "It can break down into four pieces that are undetectable by x-rays. It's good for left or right-handers. It comes with 3000-round magazines. Plus it has a 'replay button' that sends all shots to the same location. Additionally it comes with a rocket launcher, a poison/explosive-tipped arrow launcher, a net launcher, a flamethrower, and an Ice Cube System freezing spray. Oh, and finally it'll self-destruct if you push the little red button on the bottom of the gun." Chousuke blinks in amazement, "Whoa… not bad." Nami gulps "Overkill is more like it." Hana nods, "It's _much_ too dangerous in the hands of a Taraak soldier."

They also pull out their transformed belongings, Chousuke finds a handheld compass-shaped device and says "This reminds me of my old camping compass, it must've been turned into a miniaturized super-computer with a stellar mapping system, now we'll know where we are!" Kenzaki takes out his personal sketchbook from back home, "Wow! My sketchbook!"

After pulling out her own building kit, Hana smiles and says "Alright! This was my experimental computerized book after reading the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series!"

Nami pulls out a pink brassiere, which she seems to recognize due to the nervous blush on her face, she quickly hides it and asks herself out loud "Of all the clothes to be transformed into clothes period with this world, why didn't the clothes on our backs?"

"Hey, my small telescope!" smiles a thankful Chousuke. Pulling out a new red tunic with apparently reprogrammable ID tags, Kenzaki says to his comrades "Man, there's nothing these chests haven't got." Hana says "Whatever brought us here knew what we needed for adapting to this universe."

Kenzaki opens the other eight metal chests and finds them all containing more supposedly fictional items made real; including four platinum buckles similar to that of the Garren and Blay Buckles, Rouze Cards, several Oni Transformation Items (tuning forks, whistles, & string braces), Disc Animals, a complete G3 armor, one Arcle, etc.

The two young males and pre-adult woman look over the formerly fictional gear they now have with them to see if they're authentic. Kenzaki picks up the Arcle, but Hana pull it away from him "You know, you need to consider the dangers that could come with it. I know for sure that it's not plastic nor any other material I've felt before, so it could be the real deal. Check the Rouze Cards to see if the pictures move on their own."

Kenzaki looks over the Rouze Cards and spots them moving, he then shows them to Hana, who is fully recovered from the pain and gasps, "They're all real." Kenzaki jumps around happily, "Awesome!" Chousuke exclaims "They're not just Kamen Rider gear, but also 'Super Sentai' pieces of equipment, and yet they're better than nothing if we can't depend on the other bits of equipment forever!" Hana joins in the excitement with the young males.

Nami, however, is not pleased with Kenzaki's current behavior——

"Some of our belongings from back home that would be helpful on travel are converted to adapt to this sci-fi world, we're trapped in an environment where men and women are enemies in a stupid space war, and the three of you are more interested with toys for young men and little boys that are not fictional anymore?!" exclaims a frustrated Nami.

Kenzaki excitedly exclaims "These surfaces, the material of the cards and buckles, the feeling from the Rouze Cards—— I shouldn't believe it's true, but it is; these items are genuine fiction-to-fact equipment, including some of the Kamen Rider gear!"

They're in the 'Vandread' universe and holding various genuine versions of the fictional counterparts, plus some possibly upgraded ones, so how farfetched was being in a popular anime anyway?

After a moment's pause, Nami asks "Those star thingies struck the three of you in the head too, didn't they?"

"Well, come on!" says Kenzaki, "I'm liking this new life a little already. Even if we could go home somehow, which to me is doubtful, does anybody here really want to go home, do our homework, go to work, go to school, feed our pets, sit in front of the TV and miss out on all of _this_? Look about you, you three; we're living the fantasy of every fan to be part of the action. This could be the role of a lifetime."

"Not a chance in hell!" shouts Nami, "I won't go doing any real-life Dungeons and Dragons for a billion yen! I'd rather go home where Dan-kun is waiting for my presence!" "How about… something more exciting than just _Dan-kun _?" persuasively asks Chousuke. Nami freezes a tad, "What… did you say?"

Hana plays along, "We've just thought that since adventures make one stronger in mind and body, and you can experience new people up close." "What's your point?" asks Nami.

"You know;" smiles Hana, "excitement, adventure, making friends along the way and building a living here in this world with them, in case we may never need to go back to our boring old lives. Besides, there's a chance for Kenzaki-kun to be reunited with his long lost mother, etc. But you don't want this, so good luck surviving and operating the Falcon on your own."

"Wait, wait!" says a successfully persuaded Nami, "I've got an idea: we disguise ourselves as citizens of this planet, practice and train a little while here, we find some new allies, we talk them into joining us, and share their future adventures with us." Hana adds in, "And if we are transported back home, we can show everyone how much we've changed!" Nami nods "Yeah!" The boys cheer "YATTA!"

"Oh, wait!" realizes Hana "I've just remembered something; since we're taking up residence here on Taraak, if we do anything contrary to what the characters know in currently, we could affect the fabric of this universe terribly. So we should act like we're a part of them while getting to work, even eat the supposedly foul-tasting food pellets they eat here for 19 months. Also, we don't know if we're possibly the only ones from our universe here."

Everyone look at each other and say in unison, "Adapt."

Later, the four then take turns to change into Taraak-acceptable clothes and return to display.

Kenzaki dresses into a white tunic with red trousers, a utility belt, a blue baldric, a headband with his name written in five languages including English and Japanese (by Hana), sturdy black boots, and a black backpack. He shrugs

Chousuke is now clothed in a sturdy boots, tan breeches, a tan tunic with red lapels, a belt with a couple of pouches, a beret, and a satchel. "I don't believe it," gapes Chousuke in surprise "I'm placed in the military? Must be military school."

Putting on red-orange trousers with a sky-blue tunic, Nami groans out "If we ever get back home soon, my mother will never let me live it down. But thankfully, this outfit is better than nothing and it will cover certain parts I don't want people to see." "I can name a couple things about you, Nami-chan, that we shouldn't get the men to notice" replies the older woman amongst them.

Hana is in a white shirt, black pants, dark-brown vest, black leather boots, and a black utility belt, trying to make herself look almost like Han Solo from 'Star Wars'.

"Remember," states Hana, as she reads the transformed language translations book "the longer we stay here, we may as well unintentionally build some sort of reputation, so please make good impressions as best as you good. So as of now, we will be considered 3rd class citizens of Taraak."

Nami points out "I don't know about you, but how are we going to keep up with disguising our female voices?" "Which is why you and I are going to wear _these_ without worrying for ruining our voices in the future" says Hana, holding out strange flesh-toned chokers.

Chousuke snaps his fingers, "Voice changers! Great idea!"

Nami shrugs unenthusiastically, "It couldn't hurt."

The girls put on their chokers. Nami speaks up, but with a young male voice "How are these supposed to work?" then she notices the change "Whoa! I sound like a real man my age!"

Harrison Ford's voice is heard in Japanese, "This really could save our necks if we play our cards right." Everyone turns toward the direction of the voice; Hana.

With the Han Solo voice, Hana asks "Don't you think this is impressive?" Nami sighs "This is going to be a _long_ 19 months."

"Okay," says Hana "let's start our adventure together!"

"YEAH!" exclaim the two young men. Nami unenthusiastically says, "Yay."

Then the four began along the road to the start of their appointed next adventures.

* * *

However, these four don't realize they're not the only ones in this universe——

In a few places at the same moment, within the Mejere and Taraak spaces, several other groups from the Kenzaki's groups original world are experiencing similar circumstances.

Also…

Approximately 6 Parsecs away from Taraak, in a starship, that appears to be like the starship U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (length: 288.6m; width: 127.1m; height: 72.6m; mass: 1.900 million kg; armaments: 6 ball-turret phaser banks, 6 photon torpedo launchers; command crew: 7; total crew number: 430; maximum speed: Warp Factor 9.65 (1.91 Parsecs per day))

A middle-aged man with bushy white hair in a ponytail that reaches down to his posterior and dressed in a golden yellow uniform sitting in the main command chair opens his eyes, "Someone familiar to our original universe has arrived… and he has friends with him."

A middle-aged woman with blonde hair in a ponytail that reaches her waist and dressed in green looks to the captain and says "In what direction, sir?"

The captain stands and points forward "I plan for us to be warped forward until we reach 0.0000001 Parsecs to the nearest planet and then commence to slow." A young boy of 15 looks from the navigations console says "But the closest planet in that vicinity is the militant all-men planet of Taraak, should they suspect——"

"There's someone on that planet that I haven't felt since we arrived in this universe over 15 years ago and although it's exactly near the territories belonging to the all-women planet of Mejere, that someone concerns me a whole lot more at the moment" interjected the captain "Tell all female crewmembers with image generators prepped and prepare for anything." Then he sits back down, "and pray to every deity possible that those lost children are survive upon retrieval."

* * *

Back on Tarak, during the beginning of those long 19 months time…

Hana, currently under the Taraakean alias of Han Kagami, and Chousuke were recruited and upgraded to First Class. Surprisingly, their wealth in Taraakean credits was the same as the wealth Chousuke had back in the original universe. They went into the industries and school respectively. Hana would take some materials and parts no one's going to miss to modify the Millennium Falcon a bit.

While Nami, as Nam Akimura to pose as a man, and Kenzaki remain in disguise as Third Class citizens. Nami would've complained about the Taraak food pills, but she keeps her mouth shut since that would've run the risk of attracting the wrong crowd. Kenzaki doesn't mind the awful flavor, when he was out on the streets as a toddler before being picked up he ate from out of the garbage.

One day, in the 3rd class mess hall, Kenzaki meets up with a young man with wild and long hair of dark blue and clad in an orange tunic with black breeches and a striped bandana——

"Hey," nods Kenzaki to the head-banded one. The young man looks at Kenzaki with curiosity and some security, "Hello…"

"STAY OUT OF MY WAY, JERKS!" yells Nami at other First Class men in line trying to get their food pellets. She knocks several men in the line closest to her out cold with one punch each. As she pours the food pills onto her tray, she grumbles out quietly "It's bad enough that this food is so damn awful."

The men kept away from her, commenting; "Man! If he was a woman, I'd be glad to still be alive." "No kidding! He's the scariest Third Class citizen I've ever laid eyes on Taraak all my life!" "And the Prime Minister doesn't come as scary as that, ever!"

"_Han_ has all the luck!" whispers Nami to herself as she looks for an empty seat _away_ from the other men, "_he_ and the other boys get to endure the flavor of this god-awful food, _he_ gets First Class citizenship so easily, with better quarters and occupations for the time being. While I'm stuck babysitting the little nuisance, Kenzaki, and given such low class in medicine. These Third Class _morons_ should be lucky in case I throw up on them."

One of the men, who isn't sitting anywhere near Kenzaki nor his new friend, asks "Who the hell is that guy?" Kenzaki answers, making it up as he goes to cover "That's Nam Akimura, he's a person who has incredibly high standards when it comes to relationships. He's really smart but doesn't warm up nicely to people he doesn't know. He is also living through a difficult time on his own with me. He prefers to be left alone as of now."

The young man next to Kenzaki sighs "Sounds like real piece of work." Kenzaki sighs "Isn't there anything that I can do to improve us?" The young man says to him "Since you don't seem to remember, there's the traditional baptism trial of Taraak known as the Test of Manhood."

"The Test of Manhood?"

"It's where you, when you're at least 6 to 24 years old, are tested for your stamina, courage, and resourcefulness on a 100-mile journey, you're given only two day's worth of water and rations, a beacon, a staff, and a knife to arm yourself with while you endure the blistering heat, the sand storms, occasional winds, violent desert beasts while trying to reach Grand Pa's Spring, the first of the few discovered oases and sources of water on this planet."

Nami overhears the description of the baptism trial of Taraak and blinks in shock, '_They have such harsh and barbaric trials here._' Kenzaki gulps, "Why didn't you go on it, sir?" The wild-haired man sighs "My grandfather kept asking me not to, I couldn't go against his will. Besides, there were also military morons coming to draft Third Class men like me into it when I was 9 years old. They didn't get a hold of me, to say the least. Now all I've got are my junk."

After he took a few more bites of his food rations, he turns to Kenzaki and introduces himself "My name is Hibiki Tokai." "I am Kenzaki Aono" says Kenzaki as he shakes hands with Hibiki.

To be continued…


	2. Boy Meets Girl

**Vandread Riders**

(A/N: some of this stuff may seem familiar but reading is an inspiration, anything original belongs to me, but feel free to give me some ideas. Sure there are some references to other movies, but I felt like it)

Ch. 2: _Boy Meets Girl / Other World Passenger Puzzle_

* * *

19 months come and gone on Taraak…

Kenzaki, Chousuke, Nami, and Hana become friends with Hibiki during the course of the time.

Under her alias as Han Kagami, Hana had worked in the command of factories and assembly plants. She took to making some modifications to the Millennium Falcon and had her younger companions train in secret for the sake of survival and being ready, especially for the Tokusatsu-originated arsenal at their disposal. She got respect as a First Class citizen but made unheard of visits to the Third Class zones to check up on the others. She is as of now starting her 20s.

Chousuke grew up in luxury as a First Class citizen, but he took up training and studying in this whole new universe to be ready if what Hana told them may happen. As Hana instructed him, he took time to study and found the answers to the type of technology that would only be found in science fiction back home and actually make it real. If they wanted to keep things normal as they were supposed to be in the current timeline of Taraak they're in, he kept the better things to his group. He is 14 years old now.

Nami, under the Taraak alias of Nam Akimura, had struggled hard to hide her identity as a woman. Personally, she is glad to have her figure fill out a little (but mostly in her rear end), but if it got out in the Taraakean public, she'd be killed. She took on the responsibility as the nurse for their group and stockpiles for supplies needed for whatever operation Hana has planned for. During these 19 months with the others, she grows more accepting toward Kenzaki's character.

Over time Kagami's hair turns all red and he no longer very short (reaching over Hana's height; nearly 183 centimeters or a little over 6 feet). He remains in Third Class by choice, after arguing with the so-called superior First Class and getting a lot of them hating him more because Lord Grand Pa's suggested punishment for only for a majority of many of the pompous First and Second Class to work with the Third Class for 4 months. He is as of now he has turned 17 years old, just as Nami was.

Today, in his apartment (which Hana had designated as temporary since they have to move their plan into action), Kenzaki gets another letter from the Taraak military superiors once again, begging him to immediately partake the Test of Manhood and afterwards join the fight against Mejere. But, of course, he, Chousuke, Nami, and Hana have other plans in mind.

* * *

His apartment's TV plays another propaganda——

THE EMPIRE'S CENTER RECOMMENDS!

MAN'S ENEMY A.K.A. THE EMPIRE'S ENEMY!

The commercial starts displaying women portrayed as inhuman monsters attacking men, the voiceover speaks "Women are all monsters and once men were their play things. They ate our forefather's innards and sucked them dry of all life."

DESTRUCTION

OPPRESSION

"Over the years they have repeatedly pillaged and plundered our cities, they have forced hard labor to oppress us cruelly."

It then shows a space battle above the planet's surface, which is looking pretty bleak, before moving to a graveyard and then to a hospital full of wounded and bandaged men quaking in fear.

"That unspeakable horror is about to attack our empire once again. These are the shape of our bloodthirsty enemy and the symbol of our dear comrade's sacrifices. Even those who miraculously survive are left horribly scarred after their encounters with women."

"Those guys _really_ need a wake up call," calmly growls Kenzaki, "still, there's gotta be a reasonable explanation for all this. What could they have done to make the sexes do this to them?"

The commercial continues——

"But the time has finally come to repay them for those long years of humiliation, oppression, and degradation!"

The commercial breaks into the planetary news, in one of the higher class cities——

'The time has come for the Empire to regain its prestige!'

The Prime Minister, a balding high official of Taraak's military with a moustache, calls out "My comrades! My brothers! We now go into battle to prove the manhood of our glorious empire of Taraak! This fatherly land our great forefather, Lord Grand Pa, has guided us to! But today, we will supersede the holy land that we cultivated with our own hands and once again return the beloved pride of men into these hands! For today at this moment, we have a new power in our possession and it shall change our very history! In other words, we have now reached the point where we shall clench our collected fists of justice and crush our horrible nemesis, women!"

Kenzaki shuts the television off and groans out, "I've really got to get the Falcon flying, just as Hana-san instructed. I sure hope Hibiki-san will be okay. Why did he have to do that?"

* * *

In Hibiki Tokai's apartment, 16-year-old Hibiki is moaning as he packs up his satchel and listens to the Prime Minister's speech, miserably.

Hibiki groans out, "I really wish I hadn't said that."

——Flashback——

_Just yesterday…_

_In a Third Class mess hall for manufacture workers, one of the men was holding up a gray metal box-like component with an upside-down F-shaped scratch, called out "Hey, look at this! We polish these parts with our hearts and souls every day."_

_The citizen called some more "Can you believe that someone has finally arrived saying that he could bring a complete Vanguard with_ this_very part in it? That guy who plans to pull it off is the one and only Hibiki Tokai!"_

_Hibiki, Kenzaki, Nam were sitting at a table away from the crowd, eating the food pellets off trays with square spoons. Nam grumbled out to the blue-haired man with him while eating "Way to go, blockhead." "Why did you have to say that, dude?" asks Kenzaki._

_The man with the marked Van-type part smirked "Did you really mean it when you said that you'd steal one of the Vanguards to show that which we 3rd Class citizens never see in all our lives? Or were you lying? After all, you have been known to say wonderful things all the time with no chance of success!"_

_Hibiki jumped up yelling out "I'm not lying! I'll get one! You've got that?!"_

_The others cheered for him. Nam grumbles "Hotblooded idiot."_

——End of flashback——

Hibiki faults his head at the memory, "Man, I'm really stupid, aren't I? Why do I get so hotheaded so quickly that I just get carried away? Sheesh! Of course, Han-san's lucky to get off the planet after his encounter with that Second Class goon trying to frame him that same day was unexpected."

——Flashback——

_When Han came into the mess hall the same day, he spotted the part and asked, "What's with that Van-type part?"_

_The man holding the part panicked and placed it down, "Nothing, sir! It was just broken and we're attempting to fix it! The task is under the supervision of Hibiki Tokai, sir!" Han shrugs "Very well, but next time do so in the assembly plant. People may think you were stealing one of our war machines. Carry on."_

_Coming up from behind Han, from one of the tables' seats, was a Second Class citizen, which was due to his ID tag around his neck, and he held a gun up toward Han's head, grinning wickedly "Going somewhere, Kagami?"_

_Han didn't turn. He just stood still and spoke to him "Yes, Creed, as a matter of fact I was going to see your boss. Tell Baja I've got goods for him."_

_Creed moved, with his gun still pointed at Han, so he could face the First Class officer "It's too late now. You should've given them to him when you've had the chance. He has collectively created enough phony evidence that could make Lord Grand Pa throw you to the women." Then he chuckles wickedly._

_The 3rd Class men in the mess hall couldn't believe it; Han was being framed by one of the well-hidden and most infamous Second Class crime bosses on Taraak and was at gunpoint for ransom demands under him? As much as they couldn't let the only friendly First Class citizen in their lives get killed or arrested, they felt helpless._

_"It's a good thing I've found you here amongst this Third Class trash" grinned Creed, ignoring the few quiet growls of others amongst him. Han calmly smiled, "Yeah, but this time I've got the goods."_

_"If you give them to me," shrugged Creed, waving his firearm "I might forget I ever saw you."_

_Han sighed, "I don't have them on me. Tell Baja——" "Baja's through with you!" interrupted Creed._

_Creed continued, keeping Han at gunpoint "He doesn't have patience for First Class manufacturer/soldiers who keep the more than necessary products and materials for himself just for some project not even the rest of Taraak know about." "Even I get bored sometimes," calmly replied Han "I do this as a hobby. Whatever choice did I have?"_

_"You must tell Baja," demanded Creed "he might only just take hold of whatever your secret project is and sell to the imperial military."_

_Nam cringed and whispered to Kenzaki with great worry "Damn! Rumors travel like locusts!" Hibiki blinked and thought to himself '_Secret project?_'_

_Han frowned slightly "Over my dead body." "That's the idea," sneered Creed "You see, my good man, I've been looking forward this for a long time." "Yes," Han nodded "I'll bet you have."_

_BANG!_

_Creed staggered backward, dropped his weapon, and clutched at his heart. Han was wielding another unusual gun, possibly from his collection of custom-made firearms, with the barrel smoking. Han wasn't in any peril._

_"Good shot, Kagami!" gasped Creed. He fell on his butt, and looked into his hand that earlier clutched his heart area, seeing a lot of blood "And _very_ good…" Finally he laid on the floor, dead as sand._

_Han spins his gun by the trigger-guard (via RoboCop style) before holstering it again, "Please forget about this mess." The other men gulp "No problem."_

——End of flashback——

"Damn it all… NO!" growls Hibiki, raising his head with determination "No matter how dumb I am, I'm still a guy!" Grabbing his satchel, he gets up and says, "And Hibiki the man never breaks his word!"

* * *

Back with Kenzaki, he was in the hideout with Nami and Chousuke in their Millennium Falcon carbon copy, reading a book labeled 'Wielding the Force for Dummies' and 'written by Hana Kagami'. He is getting ready for the Ikazuchi to launch. Listening on the miniature wireless television unit Hana made some months back, Kenzaki sits and waits for Hana's signal to proceed with her plan…

"I swear on this day," calls out the Prime Minister of Taraak on his set "that we will destroy the vile and sinful women of Mejere and the strength of men will triumph!"

Kenzaki also hears and sees a few things like he's looking at another person's unwanted memories, "What the…?"

These are Hibiki's memories and currently Kenzaki is seeing them, as well as Hibiki running into the remodeled Ikazuchi. '_Why is Hibiki-san doing this?_'

He then hears Hibiki's thoughts '_Maybe I am hotheaded, but my blood is screaming that there's something else out there in life! And I'll prove that they're more than dreams forever, they'll be real as life itself!_'

Nami, with her voice changer off, asks "Kenzaki, the Prime Minister is still talking. Why are you spacing out like that of all times?"

The Prime Minister's speech continues, "The power each of you hold will help rebuild the future of our great empire! The ship that led us to this fatherly land, the Ikazuchi, has been revived! And to you, the young men of the Third Generation as its new officers, are the new future for Taraak! There is no force in this universe we need fear with our manly strength! In order to repay Lord Grand Pa and the great First Generation, who cultivated this land, the time for the Second and Third Generations and at the moment they become one is the time when our long waited dream will come true!"

* * *

At the moment, Hibiki is already working his way onto the Ikazuchi with subtle information of the Ikazuchi's insides and his homemade gadgets, so far with a good amount of success. The rebuilt Ikazuchi, itself, looks like a grey double-hexagonal starship of intense size.

"We all feel in our hearts the new breath coming from the Ikazuchi!" continues calling the Prime Minister "Look and praise! This is the flagship of the great Taraak Imperial Empire! The grand shape of the Ikazuchi!"

The crowd beneath him roars with ovation, he then says "You the Third Generation of Taraak, the first graduates of the military academy, born to board the new Ikazuchi. Congratulations! You have the blood of the First Generation flowing through your veins, and you are all the legitimate brothers of those 8 men, including our forefather, Lord Grand Pa!"

* * *

Hana, in her male disguise amongst the crowd of soldiers, sweat-drops '_Man, this would make one wish that an unknown enemy would just arrive to scare the pants off these propaganda-controlled bozos._'

* * *

Up in space, at the moment, several starships are appearing in orbit on the other side of Taraak, including the mysterious carbon copy of the starship Enterprise.

* * *

Back with the Ikazuchi in its loading stage, Hibiki sneaks onto the conveyor belt and through the engine room.

Back with the Prime Minister, he gets down to business "As most of you already know, the main objective of our mission is to end the piracy of the women who have been appearing in our borders and circling our realm recently. But never forget that you are on a battlefield. Work diligently and don't let yourselves get caught off guard."

"YESSIR!" roared the soldiers in response.

* * *

Back on the Falcon, Kenzaki nearly slips onto the control panels "We've got to get moving." Nami asks "Why?" "There are forces not of Mejere on the different sides of the planet, and they're all approaching Ikazuchi two hours early." "What?" gasps Chosuke "That's exactly the time the Prime Minister's planning to launch the Ikazuchi!" Nami exclaims "WHAT?"

* * *

Back with Hibiki, who is catching his breath at a pressure door to the Vanguard holding bay, says to himself "Sheesh, this ship is bigger than I thought it would be." He places on a clear glove sprays it "I'm not just going in blind, I'd be in real trouble if I hadn't done my homework."

As soon as he places his gloved palm on the handprint scan, the computer flashes red and replies, "Palm print does not match. Re-enter within 30 seconds." Hibiki gasps in shock "N-N-No way!"

* * *

To the Prime Minister, "The time has come! Why wait for the designated hour to arrive?! Wouldn't you agree with me, men?" The crowds raise their fists and cheer for approval.

Hana thinks to herself '_Just like I predicted that bastard to do._'

* * *

In the engineering section of the Ikazuchi, a technician gasps "What?! He's starting 2 hours earlier!" The head engineer orders "Get to your stations, men!"

* * *

Back on the Falcon, Nami growls "That crazy minister!" then she buckles up "Fasten your seatbelts, boys" the young males with her do so. She takes hold of her half of the controls and says "I hope all that secret training is all worth the trouble. Okay, hit it!"

The Millennium Falcon takes off, with some young boy on watching from his Test of Manhood looking up at it, he says in awe "That can't be the Ikazuchi; it's too small… and yet at the same time more breathtaking!"

* * *

Back with Hibiki, he is having trouble with the scanner still. He was positive that he didn't mess anything up. In a moment of desperation he blows into the gloved hand and presses it against the scanner, which finally flashes green for approval. The doors open as Hibiki sighs for relief, finally he could retrieve one of the Vanguards.

He crosses his arms in glory and smirks "Not bad, eh? Piece of cake!"

* * *

Outside, trumpets are flaring signaling the demand to go. Slowly, the ship rises toward space.

* * *

In the Vanguard bay, Hibiki searched for the specific Vanguard he marked to fetch.

The Vanguards are huge, grey, blocky humanoid mecha with cup-shaped cycloptic heads.

He spots the one with the part he marked and smiles with unbridled joy "There you are, partner!"

The Ikazuchi finally launches, sending Hibiki to the floor as he leaps to his 'partner'.

* * *

Also on Taraak, an ancient man who is attempting to farm looks up and sees several ships and the Ikazuchi launching into space.

* * *

In his throne room, Lord Grand Pa frowns as he speaks with the mysterious white-haired man in a yellow uniform. "Understood," says Grand Pa "but the time of departure had arrived." "That's why I intend to settle these matters peacefully, sir."

* * *

Through a window, Hibiki gasps "No way! We're flying!"

* * *

In the new mighty battleship's main hall, the cadets of the Taraak Space Force are busy enjoying the inauguration ceremonies as they drink and converse with one another. They are glad that the liftoff had proceeded without a hitch and is in synchronous orbits around their home world, awaiting the ship's escort fleet to join them.

"Man, I'm excited!"

"You're piloting a Vanguard, right?"

"Say, when this is over, do you want to want to make a kid?"

"A kid with you? Not a bad idea!"

"Hey, Han!" asks one of the men near Hana, unaware of her true gender thanks to her disguise "Want to make a kid? I'll be a good Second." Han Kagami shrugs off, "Sorry, but I've got _extremely_ high standards." "What?" pouts some of the men "You can't be serious!"

Hana walks away from 'his' admirers, she bumps into a tall man with shoulder-length orange hair and blue eyes "Sorry, Mr. Aoida." The orange-haired man nods "The fault is mine, Mr. Kagami. Please go by."

Kenta Aoida was originally a lawman pushed into recruitment aboard the Ikazuchi, he would be considered an elite but has a few flaws the academy pointed out; he prefers using words before actions is necessary despite his sharp shooting skills and firmly believes in order. Unlike most men on Taraak he's one of the very few who don't give credit to the propaganda about women and is most curious about them, just like the long-haired cadet nearby him; his old friend who went into medicine, Duelo McFile.

Duelo McFile, the long-haired man, is one of the elite and highly trained in medicine. He, along with Kenta, is glad to meet someone who was more open to encountering women, as he is planning to study them.

Other men around Duelo converse with him, "I hear that you'll be residing in headquarters, Duelo. Is that true?" "I assume with a record like yours, you could do whatever you want." "I hear he's one of those who submitted their future plans and assignment request forms completely blank." "What?"

"Hey there, is everyone having a good time?" calls out a smiling young man with blonde locks holding a box of magenta-and-white food pills, "This is a sample of our company's newest product. It's our own unique formula special blend of nutrition food tablets."

He then whispers to his fellow men "I probably shouldn't tell you this but the quality of the ingredients is far superior to the other companies'!" Finally, he holds out the box "As a token of friendship, I'll let you have a free taste if you'd like!"

As the nervous cadets gave their refusals, the blond-haired cadet continues with his innocent little advertising "Oh really? That's quite a shame. You might not get a chance to eat this good again."

Before he could turn to another group of cadets, Han asks him "I'm sorry but who are you again?" As much as Hana pities the blond-haired newcomer, she has to continue pretending not to care about him and act like she doesn't know him.

One of the cadets replies "His name is Bart Garsus; he's a First Class citizen who made it to the top because of his wealth and connections and the third successor of Garsus Foods. Let's just say that his family's keeping us all fed and leave it at that."

Another groans out "Geez, I'm getting heartburn just thinking about it."

The room darkens as an announcer addresses the cadets. A silver screen drops down before them showing images of the newest mecha, the announcer gives a brief documentary on this war machine——

TSUKUMO VERSION VAN-TYPE FIGHTER

"Pierce! Stab! Slay! With these various all-purpose accessories, this Tsukumo version Van-type fighter is a weapon in and of itself. Its armor can easily withstand weak enemy bullets. Today, it is ready to slam down the fist of justice into our horrible nemesis. It is the leading armament for our brave soldiers! Be it the sea, the air, the land, the mountains, the fields, or space itself, there is no terrain that our great weapon cannot traverse! The new Vanguards are new beacons of hope for our people! Let's give a big hand for our latest weapons! To the Tsukumo version Van-type fighters, a new day of dawning is right in front of us!"

Most of the men are enthusiastic about it. Bart, however, quivers in disgust "They're so dorky looking." "I agree," nods Hana, as she sneaks a taste of the food pellets "even if function is supposed to overrule fashion."

"How about a big round of applause for our new fleet of Tsukumo version Van-type fighters?"

There's a standing ovation as the cadets cheer for their latest tools against the women. Then the lights turned back on and a section of floor near the podium opened up. A large elevator platform rises up with more than two dozen of the completed Vanguards on it.

The applause and cheering stops as the men see... him.

Hibiki is clutching onto one of the Vanguards nervously while staring back at the crowd of military cadets. '_This is not good._'

Hana sighs with pity '_Hibiki Tokai, you actually did it as the anime suggested you did_.'

* * *

Around the planet, the other ships not originating from Mejere are nearing the Ikazuchi.

* * *

On the Enterprise, the white-haired man says, "Let's see if Miles Gloriosus is in a talkative mood."

* * *

In the Ikazuchi's main hall…

"Hey! Someone's hanging off that Vanguard!"

"Who is it?"

"It's a Third Class citizen!"

"How did he get on board?"

The Prime Minister is furious "W-What are you doing?! Get him!"

The ship's security guards charge forward to retrieve the hotheaded Taraak teen, when suddenly——

"Prime Minister, sir," announces the ship's helmsman "we're picking up ships hailing us. The most unusual thing is that they're not from the women of Mejere!"

Hibiki, who has climbed to the top of the statue of Grand Pa, and Hana gasp in confusion along with the other cadets, "Eh?"

The silver screen drops again, revealing a white-haired man in a yellow uniform. No one from Taraak has ever seen him before.

"This is Captain Shino Enraiji of the Starship U.S.S. Enterprise," speaks the white-haired man and the screen "resort violently and we'll report to the United Federation of Planets to allow a blockade around your planet so great that no one without clearance will enter nor leave your planet, _ever_."

'_The Starship Enterprise NCC-1701?! And Shino Enraiji as her captain?!_' gasps Hana internally '_The situation to this being an alternate reality is becoming more and more likely._'

Hana remembers Shino Enraiji as the famous writer from back in their home dimension who disappeared some time after Kenzaki was born. At the moment she finally sees his face again, she immediately knows that it's more than possible that others are also in this dimension and that Kenzaki's mother is truly here.

* * *

On the Falcon, while flying the freighter ship toward the Ikazuchi, Kenzaki is beginning to glow with white particles of light swirling around him "What's happening to me?!" Then he vanishes.

* * *

Kenzaki reappears in the Ikazuchi's main hall, next to the statue Hibiki is residing on top of.

The cadets gasp in shock!

"Another Third Class citizen?"

"He just appeared out of thin air, like magic!"

"It's that bastard Kenzaki Aono!"

"Get him!"

Captain Enraiji waves his hand, "No one is to do a thing but listen to what I say."

The Prime Minister roars out, "No one is to do a thing but listen to what he says!"

The security team stops in their tracks.

Hana gasps '_Shino can reach out to the Force? Looks like the Prime Minister is weak-minded enough to be manipulated. Also it seems that that captain seems to know Kenzaki-kun was coming for him to use the Enterprise's transporter system to beam him to Hibiki-kun._'

Kenta also notices, '_Does this captain have the mythical power of suggestion? At least he's not forcing him to commit suicide._'

Duelo also assesses Kenzaki at first glance, '_So_ that _is the rumored Kenzaki Aono, he doesn't look a thing like a Third Class citizen; he's in excellent physical condition if not apparently slightly above what a professional would consider at his peak with his lean but finely muscled form. Also Third Class citizens are low in self-esteem and are afraid of their betters, yet Kenzaki's not. That other guy seems a tad taller than other Third Class citizens, he still needs to work on his temperament though._'

Captain Enraiji announces "Should I see any acts of violence instead of political communication within the next two hours, we will disable every machine on your planet and hail to the Vogon Constructor Fleet to annihilate your planet to make way for their hyperspace express route."

"What? If we attack them, they'll order our planet's destruction?"

"Even we don't have that many ships to evacuate the civilians!"

Hana blinks in amazement '_Wow, his bluffs are making almost everyone on this ship quiver in fear._'

The Prime Minister sighs "Very well, Captain. Security." The security guards turn to him. "Take those two Third Class delinquents to the brig for punishment. But no calls for executions whatsoever." "Yes sir!" salutes the security guards.

Hana cringes '_Oh man! This is really going to set back my plan a few notches._'

* * *

Back on the Falcon, Nami stops the freighter ship as she sees the escort fleet fly up toward the Ikazuchi. Then they feel a strong pull. Nami asks, "What's happening? Why are we moving sideways? Even Taraak didn't properly invent tractor beam technology." Chousuke says "It's not Taraak, nor from Mejere."

* * *

The Prime Minister moves toward the bridge to communicate with the captain, thinking '_Perhaps this Federation can help us annihilate if we negotiate in the correct manner. Besides he seems as senile as he seems negotiable. Those Third Class brats ruined everything that we have cancel the exhibition match._'

As soon as he reaches the bridge, Captain Enraiji announces on the bridge view screen, "You have 30 minutes as of this moment." The Prime Minister gasps, "What happened to the two hours?" "Perhaps I am _not_ as senile as I am negotiable, Prime Minister of Taraak" says the Captain as he cocks an eyebrow.

The Prime Minister's eyes widen in shock and horror, '_Are there spies amongst us? Is he capable of reading minds in a great distance? Is it even possible? If he gets the truth out to the men, then everything will fall into ruin!_'

* * *

Back in the main hall, the soldiers are witnessing the continued communication on the silver screen in horror——

"What?! He's cutting the time in quarters for hearing one insult in the Prime Minister's head?"

"The situation he's placed us under is even scarier than women!"

Kenta thinks to himself '_He must be pretty perceptive, if not tough but fair. He's negotiating and holding action actions as a last resort._'

Bart panics '_I've got to get out of here! I'm going to die eventually otherwise!_'

* * *

Placed behind energy bars in a storage room / brig, the guards say "Be thankful that those Federation guys are buying you two your exemption of execution." "Otherwise we would've given you both a public execution."

Kenzaki frowns "So you're going to kill us secretly?" "That was our next intention," admits one of the guards "until that Captain Enraiji shortened our two hours to one-half." "So the next merciful thing we could do is to ship you to those Enterprise guys and see how they'll like you. We just don't have the pods ready for you as of yet." Hibiki sighs "Well, that's a relief."

"Hi-type Unit #6!" calls one of the guards. A squat white egg-shaped robot zips in midair near the energy bars of their cell. Before he left with his comrade, he ordered the little droid "Keep an eye on them. Understood?"

"Beep-beep! Roger!" replied the robot as it faces the cell with his black screen-and-touchpad-like face.

"My life's always turning against me," groans Hibiki. Kenzaki sighs, "Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt."

Kenzaki leans back and asks the robot "So… come here often?"

"Beep! Beep!" beeps the robot "That does not compute."

Hibiki looks at the robot and tries warming up to it "Hey, little guy. Why don't you be a pal and let us out of here? The three of us were born in a factory, so we're brothers, right? Right?"

"Beep!" goes the robot "We are composed of different materials. The term 'brothers' is inappropriate."

Hibiki attempts to try and win over the robot "I have this great generator at home! Let us out and I'll install it to you!"

A red 'X' appears across the robot's screen, "Denied. One subject is making an improper request. Instigation of attempted bribery and escape are crimes, therefore…" "Therefore?" asks Hibiki. "Punishment" finishes the robot by means of a yellow bolt of static electricity, shocking Hibiki into a slight submission.

Kenzaki gulps "Not a smart tactic."

Hibiki gets up and furiously yells at the robot "What the hell are you doing? Who do you think I am?"

The robot announces "Identity can of subjects commencing."

Kenzaki frowns '_Oh no! If this egg-bot finds out that I wasn't born in Taraak's baby factories, it's goodbye to me._'

Hibiki rants on "I'm not supposed to end up in a place like this! So please——"

The robot scans "Subjects observed are human, organic body structure. Searching database… scan complete. You are——"

BOOM!

Kenzaki's eyes widen "What the?!"

The robot's screen goes static after slipping from its position and collides with the bars! Their brig is also shaken up by the sudden tremor, causing the supplies in it to fall onto them!

* * *

Outside, the Ikazuchi and non-Taraak/Mejere ships are under attack!

* * *

Captain Enraiji frowns "So, they planned an ambush." One of the crewmembers, disguised as a green crystalline humanoid, says, "Yes. But we have to do something about the space pirates attacking us."

Captain Enraiji says, "Their true target is the Ikazuchi of Taraak itself, not any of the other ships." The crewmember disguised as a humanoid fox with golden fur blinks "Of course; steal the military's flagship, steal the military's pride."

The young man with black hair at the navigator station says, "Captain, I'm detecting several human life form signals originating from our universe on the other ships. They're also being drawn together by some mysterious force." Captain Enraiji sighs "No doubt about it, it's the Paksis Pragma; it's drawing in everything so long as what used to be a piece of the Ikazuchi gets its missing part back, but at the same time it finds our ships tantalizing."

One of the crewmembers disguised as an alien life form resembling a walking pile of mud comes up to the captain and makes motions with its disguised hands, or rather commuting with him in sign language. He responds to said crewmember, "Of course I'm going to charm those fighters to not cause any casualties."

* * *

On the pirate ship, the second-in-command smiles "Looks like we caught ourselves a big one." The mysterious captain also smiles "Today's our lucky day."

A voice hails to the captain via intercom, "Captain, we're being hailed by one of the Taraak ships; the one with the saucer-shaped front." "We're only after the Ikazuchi," says the captain "the unusually designed ships are basically not from Taraak."

Captain Enraiji's voice is heard via communiqué, "So you have done your homework, ma'am. I can assure to you and your crew that it is true that the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, the Klingon Bird of Prey, the Millennium Falcon, our MC80a Star Cruiser, and Battlestar Galactica are all not part of the Taraak military's list of starships."

(Klingon Bird of Prey— starship type: warship; length: 110m; decks: 5; crew complement: 12 to 36; top speed: Warp 9.8 (1 light year per 3.336 hours); armament: photon torpedo launchers (fore and aft), 2 disrupter cannons, phasers; defenses: deflector shields and cloaking device)

(MC80a Star Cruiser— starship class: star cruiser; role: carrier, destroyer; length: 1,300m; crew capacity: 668 officers, 4,734 enlisted, 1,230 (minimum crew), 1,200 troops (passengers); consumables: 2 years; cargo capacity: 20,000 metric tons; hyperdrive speed: 60MGLT (26.23213 Parsecs an hour); armament: 48 turbolasers, 20 ion batteries, 6 tractor beam projectors; shielding: triple layered; complement: 72 fighters, 5 shuttles, 2 light freighters, and light mixture of ground vehicles)

(Battlestar Galactica (BS 75)— starship type: military; role: carrier-battleship hybrid; length: 4720 ft; width: 1762 ft; height: 602 ft; max. crew: 3,500; weapons: 514 dual point-defense KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapons), 24 primary KEW, 12 missile tubes; onboard fighters: 40 Vipers and Raptors)

Captain Enraiji adds in, "Also, we have no binding connections with either Mejere and Taraak. My only concern that brought me here in the first place was to pick up a few lost children from the world I originate."

The pirate captain smiles, "According to our scanners, you're packing an awful lot of heat for a simple rescue mission. That is, if you're telling the truth." "I knew you may say that," sighs Captain Enraiji "I will refrain from firing on you. I don't want to cause any loss of life. I give you my word."

One of the crewmembers, most likely working on the pirate ship's bridge, says "The word of a man is worthless."

* * *

On the bridge of the Bird of Prey, one member of its mysterious crew groans out "This is the worst; I somehow knew one of those pirates would say that during the communication."

* * *

On the Ikazuchi, Hana has hidden under a table about a minute ago and chats with Nami——

"What?" gasps Nami "Kenzaki's been transported onto the Ikazuchi and he's in the brig with Hibiki?" Hana whispers "Yes, so long as the pirates keep attacking in the background fire, keep calm." Chousuke's voice is heard "We're glowing like aniki!" They're being transported from the Falcon to somewhere else too? Hana slams her fist to the floor "Damn!"

The Prime Minister's voice is heard barking out through the speakers "Launch the Vanguards!" Hana grits her teeth "Double damn!" The commander says to the Prime Minister, through the speakers "But, sir, they're mostly just trainees!" "If we lose this battle without using our latest weapons," snarls the Prime Minister "we'll bring shame upon our forefathers!" The commander says "But we can't show any violence; if we upset Captain Enraiji any further, it would bring Taraak to a true end!" "Then do your best to subdue the women instead!" barks the Prime Minister.

The scramble order is given, signaling all available cadets to hurry toward the launch areas!

As soon as the Vanguard pilots left, all of those left in the main hall are Hana, crawling out from under one of the tables, and Bart, who is cowardly hiding under another table. Hana, still using her disguise, runs to the brig to get Kenzaki "Becareful, Mr. Garsus! It's about to get really weightless in here!"

A speaker calls out "Switching to sub-zero gravity in order to deploy all Van-types! Standby for weightless conditions!"

Hana make a jump kick through a closing pressure door as in the very instant that tables and other items on the floor float right off the floor, plus the unfortunate heir to Garsus Foods.

* * *

After several more shots, the mechanical area of the Ikazuchi takes a hit and several deployment mechanisms for the Vanguard runway catapults have become offline. But it mattered little to the Prime Minister, forcing those left available to launch.

However, much to the shock of many——

"What?! 20 percent of the available Vanguards are not launching?"

The Vanguards outside follow their orders to attempt to subdue the Mejere pirates' fighters, without destroying them.

* * *

In the brig, Kenzaki is helping Hibiki with the prison. He asks his friend from Taraak "Why are we doing this again, Hibiki-san?" "You don't want to die here, do you?" growls Hibiki. Kenzaki shakes his head in agreement.

Kenzaki wishes inwardly '_It's great to find a kindred spirit in Hibiki-san, but I wish this isn't it._'

Hibiki hotwires the circuits, then the energy bars shut off. Kenzaki sighs happily, "We're out." Hibiki grins, "That's right, they should never underestimate a mechanic's know-how!"

As the two get up to leave, they look at the malfunctioning egg-shaped robot. Feeling sympathy for the poor machine, Hibiki picks it up "At least he deserves better than to be left for dead." Kenzaki nods with a tear in his eye, "I agree."

Hana, as Han, shows up "What are you two waiting for? Let's get out of here!" Hibiki gulps and nods, "Lead the way."

* * *

At the moment, three Mejere fighters crash into the rear end of the Ikazuchi and through the main hall while three men (actually two men and one woman) ran to find a way off the ship!

Several more Mejere fighters land inside the Ikazuchi, the artificial gravity becomes restored as soon as the fighters' canopies open revealing the pilots; clad in formless suits with monstrous masks designed to have the intention to put fear into the hearts of their enemies.

In the Ikazuchi's main hall, Bart falls out of a statue of Grand Pa and stares in terror "Those things are women?!" Then he finds them staring at him, then they look up before hitting the dirt! Bart is confused, then he hears a sound from behind him, seeing a blue Mejere fighter zooming out of control heading his way!

He hides into the statue again, screaming "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

The zooming fighter knocks the statue's block off and keeps going, the cowardly cadet pokes his head out through the hole.

Out of a flash of light, he sees another terrifying figure——

A humanoid figure in bulky, thick metallic armor; its armor is mostly silver with a red accent on the shoulders and chest. Cylindrical sections ran down this figure's hands and armor plating is on its fingers. The helmet is silver with a solid blue visor. On the forehead of the visor was a small bit resembling that of a rhino beetle's horn tip.

The Mejere women are shocked, although, at it's not showing thanks to their helmets that they attack. The beams from their weapons don't affect the armor at all. The armored figure walks toward the engine room. Bart asks himself in awe, "That thing can't be a woman, they attacked it. It's so powerful. What was it?"

* * *

On the Enterprise, the young navigator says to his captain "Sir, Kabuto has transported himself to the Ikazuchi!" Captain Enraiji frowns "This is getting out of hand. That little idiot is going to lose his Zecter device."

* * *

In the Ikazuchi's halls, where the blue Mejere fighter's zooming out of control, a voice cried from it "I can't stop!"

* * *

In the engine and reactor room, another scary-suited woman enters with unbelievable timidity. She hears several people whispering, she looks and slowly finds Chousuke and Nami clutching to each other. Nami removes her voice-changing choker, "Look! We don't want any trouble! We're not from Taraak nor are we from Mejere! We just want off!"

"Nami-san? Chousuke-kun?" asks the suited woman.

Nami's face eases with curiosity, "Huh?" '_She knows us?_' asks Chousuke internally.

Up on a catwalk above them, Hana, Kenzaki, and Hibiki are running to get away. Hibiki looks at the faint green orb below them. Then a blast shot out at the three, scattering them around!

* * *

On the Ikazuchi's main bridge, a large lever rises from the control panel before the Prime Minister.

"Minister! You mustn't do this!" cries the commander of the now decimated Space Fleet of Taraak.

The Prime Minister shakes his head as he grabs hold of a large lever, "We cannot afford to let this entire ship fall into the hands of those pirates! I must at least save the new sections of the Ikazuchi! Before everything is lost to the women of Taraak, I will separate the old from the new!" With these words, he pushes the lever forward.

Throughout the Ikazuchi, several series of explosive charges go off, causing the new sections of the ship to disengage from the original vessel!

* * *

Within the barracks of the older ship, scores of cadets watch in horror as they witnessed their leaders abandoning them.

Duelo and Kenta show no fear. Kenta merely frowns, "Those Brass bastards, they're separating us from each other! They really don't give a damn about us!" Duelo nods, "Yeah, for all their brave talk, the Brass were nothing more than hypocrites."

* * *

The Bird of Prey's crew and the bridge crew of the other ships, excluding the Enterprise, transport themselves on board the Ikazuchi.

* * *

In the reactor room, Kenzaki finds himself underneath something, his vision's blocked by something lying on top of him and he reached up with a hand to feel around. He encountered something that was round, warm and… squishy.

'_Huh?_' blinks Kenzaki '_round, warm, and squishy?_'

Then he realizes that he's holding a woman's breast… and one clad in one of those monster-like spacesuits the other Mejere space pirates wear!

"ZOINKS! I'm sorry!" backs off Kenzaki.

"No! I'm sorry!" replies the spacesuit-clad woman.

"I——" shrieks up Kenzaki some more before he realizes something, "Huh? That voice…"

He creeps closer toward the space-suited woman, who fidgets backward a bit, and he asks her "Aren't you Sakura Tendou from back in my home universe?"

The woman in the Mejere pirate spacesuit before him nods and replies quietly "Yes, Kenzaki-kun." She slowly removes her helmet to reveal a very beautiful face with blue eyes and dark-blue hair framing her face and reaching down her back. Kenzaki mentally gasps '_Oh merciful deities everywhere! It_ is _Sakura-san!_'

Kenzaki remembers Sakura Tendou from back home as the shy girl who looked away whenever he looked her way. She was never part of the crowd that rejected him, but she was really shy and didn't communicate much. She removes her spacesuit to reveal a short kimono of blue that fits her figure, which is now revealed to Kenzaki, and snug white boots with snowflake emblems.

Kenzaki looks down from her face and towards her chest, '_Man… no wonder why she wore such thick clothing when we were back home; her breasts are humungous._' Then he shakes his head, '_NO! BAD THOUGHTS! BAD THOUGHTS! Think of something else, darn it! Still, she's ultra-cute. No she's more than that, she's blossomed further into drop-dead gorgeousness. NOT AGAIN! THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE! SPEAK TO HER!_'

"How long have you been in this universe, Sakura-san?" asks Kenzaki. Sakura looks down to the floor and says "19 months with Rion-san, Koga-san, Momotarou, and Hayate-san."

"Yarai Rion-chan?" exclaims Hana, who is nearby.

"Hayate-sempai?" blinks Chousuke, who is underneath Nami.

"The annoying bastard with the cute dog?" flips up a shocked Nami, knocking Chousuke off.

The surprised Sakura nods "Yes."

As if it was an ironic echo, Hibiki starts to have a similar incident on the catwalk above——

Hibiki comes to, just to find himself underneath something. His vision's blocked by something lying on top of him and he reached up with a hand to feel around. He encountered something that was round, warm and… squishy. Squeezing it with no idea what it was, he asks "What the heck is this?"

He looks up and finds himself face-to-face with a Mejere space-suited woman, following the Taraakean propaganda inspiring fear, he panics and backs away, "MONSTER!"

"No, hold on! Wait!" calls out the covered creature. Hibiki stops as he heard the voice and then nervously watches as the creature he's trying to flee from removes her helmet——

Underneath the spacesuit is an attractive redhead in a white, pink, and black outfit consisting of a cute skirt, tanktop, and jacket ensemble. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she shook her long mane of red hair. She had a decorative hairpiece that looked like a golden circlet or tiara on the back of her head and an emerald necklace around her neck. She is also rather busty, not so much as Sakura, but enough to catch a guy's eye. She smiles, "Wow! It's a real live alien!"

"A-A-Alien?" twitches a confused and nervous Hibiki.

Everyone else unfamiliar with the Mejerean redhead, whose name is Dita Liebely, gets confused. '_Aren't they basically the same species?_' thought Nami, '_Why is she calling him an alien?_'

Sakura looks up at the redheaded girl, "Dita-san." Hana looks at Sakura, '_The Mejerean monster/spacesuit! She and the others with her must've been like us, disguising their selves in order to get off the planet and the pirates were the only way for them. I hope if the possible males with her and Rion-chan thought of something else rather than dress in drag like me and Nami._'

Dita raises a hand and began making some simple hand gestures with it to Hibiki. One could almost hear distinct musical tones with each movement. A confused Hibiki copies said gestures with a nervous chuckle, thinking it's a way of greeting on Mejere. When he finished, Dita gets even more excited, "I did it! It worked! I made first contact!"

"No doubt in my mind," says Nami "That terrible enemy of Taraak is a total ditz!"

"Henshin!" says Kenzaki's voice.

"**Turn Up**!"

Everyone looks at Kenzaki and watches him as a blue rectangular field with a rhinoceros beetle with spade on its back in the center appears before him and it phases past him, donning him in a blue bodysuit with silver armor that covers his chest, shoulders, helmet, forearms and legs. His chest has a silver spade depicted on it with a spade on each of his shoulders. His helmet is mainly sliver with a single horn with eyepieces of blood red. On his side was a sword, which had panels inside the hilt. Kenzaki is now Kamen Rider Blade.

He leaps up to Hibiki and Dita, he asks Hibiki "Are you alright, Hibiki-san?" Hibiki quickly turns to the voice behind him and gasps, "K-Ken-Kenzaki?! What happened to you?" "He transformed with Alien Power!" exclaims an excited Dita some more, "Can you do it too, Mr. Alien?"

"'Mr. Alien'?" sweat-drops Nami.

Hana sweat-drops, '_I knew there was a reason why I was also making those Rider Belts during those past 19 months, I should've foreseen_ this _coming! Darn!_'

"Kenzaki-kun…" sighs Sakura, earning everyone's stares "is amazing."

'_Kenzaki-kun? Amazing?_' sweat-drops a shocked Nami, '_Don't tell me the shyest girl in class is in love with the man who used to be the class loser! Maybe I need glasses._'

Hana deduces silently '_Kenzaki gave me the idea, but now it's confirmed. Good thing's Kenzaki's not that big of a dunce._'

Dita dives into her spacesuit to fetch her camera, "Just hold on a second, I want to take a picture!" Hibiki quirks an eyebrow, "Take a picture?" KR Blade shrugs "I guess it couldn't hurt just for one picture."

As she picks a pink disk-shaped camera up from her spacesuit, Dita calls out "Smile!"

"Cheese!" poses KR Blade, with Hibiki putting on a forced if not freaked smile.

FLASH!

Their picture is taken by the smiling Mejerean.

"Sakura!" calls a woman's voice. A young woman with her brown hair in locks in front of her left shoulder comes rushing in. She is dressed in a white vest with a bodice and hot pants.

Following the young woman are a young man with black shaggy hair and clad in flame style jacket with fur-lined collar and blue jeans, an Alaskan malamute dog, and another young black-haired man with black sunglasses and clad in a white scarf, black jacket and pants.

Kenzaki's group immediately recognizes them——

Rion Yarai is one of Hana's roommates from back home in college. The others have heard that she was without a penny to her name until Hana helps her to her feet. The two of them became friends quickly due to their natures being somewhat alike. Rion is quite an otaku like Hana and was studying medicine so she could be a great doctor to save people's lives and _not_ because of the great pay because of it.

The wild-looking young man is Koga Konno and his pet dog, Momotarou. They are, in Kenzaki's opinion, in a way the perfect example of man and canine friendship. If there were anyone back home in class that would fit under the category of annoyance more than Kenzaki in Nami's book, it'd be Koga. He would roar louder than Kenzaki would and it was never bravado, because he was pretty overconfident as he looks now and acts like he's the boss because of his prowess. His dog, Momotarou, is a lot smarter than him.

Hayate Zanpaku is not much known about, because he sits around in dark places, nobody usually notices him. It's said that he doesn't talk much but has an IQ of 140, so it's likely that he avoids talking to other students to also avoid the risk of running into bullies.

Hibiki decides to use the odd conversation between Kenzaki and the others to take his leave. Dita follows Hibiki. Kenzaki notices this and deactivates his armor, surprising the new arrivals from their universe.

Rion asks Sakura, who is running after Kenzaki, "Sakura-chan, who is Kamen Rider Blade there?" Sakura sighs, "Kenzaki Aono."

Koga gasps "Whoa! The so-called runt! I can tell because he's got no hostility toward anyone and his voice and mannerisms are the same!" Then he runs to get to Kenzaki, "Did you hit a growth spurt, dude?"

Rion blinks and then quietly asks, "That's the Kenzaki Aono you're in love with?" then she shrugs "She's got good taste."

As soon as everyone left the orb in the reactor room, little has any of them realize that the orb is glowing an even brighter blue.

* * *

On the Enterprise, the navigator shouts, "We're all being drawn in! Prepare for collision!"

Captain Enraiji gasps "Our ships are moving out of control!?" The golden-furred fox humanoid nods "Yes, now the pirate ship and the old sections of the Ikazuchi are drawing all of our ships toward it!"

The bridge rocks, the fox's image generator falls off, revealing a buxom blonde in a blue uniform, she stares at the screen and growls "Damn, so much for a diplomatic approach with a bluff." Captain Enraiji nods "I know I'm more of a free man, my wife, but still I made a promise to look over Kenzaki Aono, and he's currently on that old section of the Ikazuchi."

The muddy being removes its generator to revealing a beautiful brunette in a blue uniform. She makes charades and signs. The blonde says to her "Don't worry, Mioha, we'll make it in time." She turns to her husband, "Permission to send the other capable ones to attempt to stop Kabuto, captain?" Captain Enraiji nods "Request approved. We cannot have that impatient fool lose control."

* * *

It hasn't taken the pirates long to take over the old section of the ship. In the barracks, the men are herded at gunpoint toward the escape pods. As Duero and Kenta walks with them, they listen on the conversation between the females as they disrobe their heavy suits.

"I know that it's a disinfectant, but I don't think that I'll ever get used to the smell" comments Jura. She's a tall, voluptuous woman of twenty with long, lush, blonde hair. She's wearing a very snug if not ridiculously revealing dress with a plunging neckline and a slit on either side, showing off her fabulous legs.

"Has anyone seen Dita?" asks Meia. She's an athletic girl of nineteen with light aqua hair cropped short in a boyish style. She is also wearing a kind of black metal circlet over her left eye. She's dressed in a form-fitting piloting bodysuit of black and white that emphasizes her curves.

"The last I saw of her, she had crashed through the bulkhead and… OW!" shouts Barnette in pain before she glares at her comrade and the pirate's only medical officer, Paiway.

Barnette was Jura's best friend and favorite Dread partner. She also sports a lush figure and wears a purple-and-white bikini/bodice outfit that had an open front to display her bosom's cleavage plus shoulder-length gloves with pronounced shoulder pads and thigh-length boots. She has dark green hair cropped short with a purple Alice band and a purple-and-scarlet flower barrette.

Paiway is the absolute youngest of the pirate crew, she is only eleven years old in fact, and their medical officer yet sadly she is still an apprentice nurse and not very good. She has two straight long pigtails are tied up by sky-blue ring-bands and long locks at the sides of her face. She is clad in a dark-blue and blue nurse uniform with black boots, a white nurse hat, large shoulders, and a dark apron with long white straps forming the bow in the back and a small red 'x' in front. In her possession is a green frog-themed bag.

"Watch it, Paiway! My skin is very delicate you know!" frowns Barnette as she looks down that the wound on her arm. The burn she had received from the enemy shots when it penetrated her space suit stings, and she knows that there would be a scar after the wound healed. She becomes a bit distraught as she realizes that her perfect skin is going to be permanently blemished now.

"I can't help it. Just try to endure it," replies the apprentice nurse as she continues to add disinfectant to the wound. Nearby, several other pirates waited to be treated. Barnette complains, "Nurses are supposed to be more sensitive." "I am!" assures Paiway.

With his critical eye, Duelo can see that the child is the pirates' medical officer, though she's not very good at it. She has promise but lacks the proper training and knowledge to treat her patients effectively.

As the men are being forced into the escape pods, Meia goes toward one of the holes in the walls, "Jura! I'm going to go look for Dita. Let's go together!" The blonde shrugs, "This is the reason why I didn't want to bring along a trainee. "

"We're short-handed enough as it is!" snaps back Meia, "If you didn't want to come along, then you should have said so."

Quietly Jura groans, "Oh all right! I'm coming!"

As the two run down the hole to look for their missing trainee, Kamen Rider Kabuto walks down the hall, ignoring the situation going on beside him. One of the pirates point their lasers at him, "You! Get in line!"

He ignores the command and pulls the horn on the red mechanical beetle, or Kabuto Zecter, on his buckle. The armor loosens with electricity-like energy looming around it and he says "**Cast Off**."

"Cast off?" blinks the pirates.

"**CAST OFF**!" calls the Zecter.

The loosened exterior shell blasts off of him in multiple directions! Seeing this, the lady pirates duck while most of the male captives get struck by the flying pieces of shed armor, rendering those hit unconscious. They all look back to see the armor taken a slimmer form, with a horn folding up over the helmet's face and making the solid visor turn into eyes.

"**CHANGE BEETLE**!"

His interior chest armor is in the style the abdomen of a beetle. His shoulder pads are rounded with the gloves and boots in the same style. His belt has that red mechanical beetle attached buckle, yet only the beetle's horn was on the opposite side of the beetle's body. His head had a large blue visor that had a red beetle horn coming straight up the middle of his face. The overall color scheme was red.

One of the still conscious Taraak men gulps "That armor is not part of any of our technology." The pirate women blink in horror of the knowledge and ask in unison "It's not?" Said man nods nervously.

KR Kabuto in Rider Form casually marches into the same corridor Jura and Meia ran in.

Kenta frowns '_Whoever is in that armor is motivated. But for what reason? And what could be down there if not those two women?_'

* * *

Meanwhile, on another part of the old ship, three more pirates made their way into what appears to be a sub-bridge. After taking off their spacesuits, they explore the unused and untouched consoles…

The first woman, Ezra, is a quiet young one with brown hair and a gentle demeanor wearing light-colored garments with a bow on top.

The second one, Buzam (or simply BC), is a statuesque woman with tanned skin and silver-blonde hair wearing a green top and baggy breeches, which looks like a harem ensemble.

The last of the three, Parfet, is a young woman with her brown hair in two large braided pigtails with purple ribbons on the ends who wears an orange workshop suit and huge glasses.

"Oh my! What should we do? I can't read a word of this!" remarks Ezra as the screens showed nothing but the Taraakean language. She was usually one of the bridge crew of their ship, but the first officer, BC, had insisted that she come with her and the chief engineer, Parfet.

"No problem, just leave it to me!" cheerfully smiles Parfet as she brings out a strange little device, "I knew that something like this might happen, so that's why I made this electronic interpreter, Inter-Pricko! I'll make one up for you too, commander——"

However, Buzam isn't even interested as she casually downloads the computer's data to their command ship. As she continues to download, she speaks into her communicator "Meia, have all the men been immobilized? Good, then dump them."

"Huh?" gasps a surprised Parfet, "You can read this already, commander?"

Ezra shrugs cheerfully, "That's the elite for you!"

"Shoot!" sighs a disappointed Parfet "And I worked so hard in making this thing too!"

* * *

Down the halls, KR Blade shouts "Hibiki-san, there's some truth you may not like to hear but you have to know!" "Can this wait until later? We've got several women who want to eat our guts!" screams Hibiki.

Nami, with her voice changer back on, says, "Damn, this is really getting old. Can't we go home already?"

"Hey, Mr. Alien!" calls Dita "Let's just sit and talk! Everyone else can join in if they want!"

Hana sighs "At least, Dita agrees with Kenzaki over sexism."

* * *

On the Enterprise… her crew hear that the Prime Minister is planning to blow up the old section of their remodeled Ikazuchi with a Muramasa space missile immediately.

"Damn!" frowns Captain Enraiji "Looks like Miles' pride is hard for him to overcome."

* * *

In the barracks…

Coming out from the floor is another armored figure——

He's donned in a dark bodysuit, which has sockets on his knees and shoulders. His chest armor is silver and segmented, giving an appearance of a bat. Strapped to his waist is a black rapier with a bat-shaped guard. His helmet is black with a silver visor styled after a knight's and the mouth guard had markings like fangs on it.

Worried that his armor may explode like the previous one, the uninjured pirates held up their lasers at him.

However, the black armored figure polite asks, "Please excuse me, but have you seen a man in red rhinoceros beetle-themed armor go by here? I'm looking for him."

Surprised by this armored warrior's politeness, the pirates are stunned. Paiway gulps and cautiously points in the hole KR Kabuto went into, "He went that way."

The black armored figure politely bows "I apologize for any inconvenience he may have given you, ladies. Thank you for your assistance." Then he runs off into the hole.

Barnette asks, "Did that bat-themed knight… just not… attack us? And talked to us like a… gentleperson?" Paiway nods in surprise, "What you said did happen."

Duelo reaches into a locker and pulls out a white long coat: his medical coat, and puts it on.

"Hey! What are you doing?" shouts one of the pirates. Duelo simply ignores the pirate. "Get into the capsule now!" The pirate demanded.

"There's time enough for that later," replies the medic as he turns around.

"Do as you're told or I'll shoot!" she emphasizes her point by leveling her blaster at him.

"I'm no threat to you," simply says Duelo as he eyes Paiway and her patient "I happen to be a doctor."

This immediately catches the attention of the pirates. An expert physician was something that the female corsairs sorely needed, since Paiway is still just an apprentice nurse. However, they are still uneasy about the thought about letting a man touching them.

Kenta, still with Duelo, says "I have nothing against you, but let's just say that it would be unjust to fight first and never talk. Besides, another person I just saw, who was neither of our armored mystery guests, just walked through here and I'm going to see what his problem is."

One of the pirates frown "Fine, but as soon as you do, return here with said suspect and get ready to be dumped off!" "It's good to talk first," nods Kenta as he leaves "I'll be back, I promise!"

* * *

Down another corridor, the groups with Hibiki and Dita start splitting up accidentally while still running after Hibiki and Kenzaki——

"Man, she sure is persistent," grunts Hibiki as he continues running. Dita, still hot in her pursuit of Hibiki, calls back to him "Please don't run away, we really are a peaceful race!"

* * *

In another corridor, a lone Hayate sighs "We're lost."

'_Don't give up so easily, Hayate!_' calls out a voice in his head.

"Very well, Ryutaros, take over. But don't break anything."

'_The snot-nosed brat's going to get us in trouble! Besides, I'm sensing someone strong nearby! I'm taking over!_' shouts another voice in Hayate's head.

A red silhouette comes over Hayate and fuses with him——

Now 'Hayate' stands in the former's place, with slicked-up spiky black hair with a red streak, red irises, and a very muscular build.

Hayate Red smirks as he pockets Hayate's sunglasses and pulls out the Den-O Belt, "I've been waiting for this for 19 painful months for a good climax!" He whips the Belt around his waist and swipes a tiny black box over his buckle, "Henshin!"

"**SWORD FORM**!"

FLASH! Transparent shards envelope his body before forming a black bodysuit with silver boots and white gauntlets. The torso is covered by black armor with a silver stripe running down the middle. His helmet was white with a silver mouth guard, large black eyes, and a silver stripe running down the middle as well. After that additional armor appears; the armor that attaches to his back was black with yellow trimmings and the armor attaching to his chest was red, still with the silver stripe. He has broad shoulder armor attaching to the shoulders. In front of his upper legs form rectangular strokes of red. Finally, a red metal peach slides down his helmet and attached to his faceplate before it split with the tips extending, forming new eyepieces.

"Ore…Futatabi Sanjou!" KR Den-O (Sword Form) announces as he poses dramatically.

* * *

On another catwalk, Kenzaki and his group of 8 regrouped other worlders (excluding Hayate) meet up with four more they're familiar with——

"Oh no!" groans Nami "it's you again!" Kenzaki groans too, "Hello, Kiku-san."

Kenzaki immediately recognizes most of the people in amongst them as his classmates from back home——

The dark-looking young man with black hair is Dan Midoruha; back in Kenzaki's home world Dan was the class heartthrob, even Kuchichuwa-sensei had the hots for him. He has a 'bad boy' persona on for some reason, but the funny thing is that some people including Kenzaki can see that it looks like a façade for some reason while Dan's 'suitors' don't.

The blonde half-American woman is Kiku Kiguchi; she is at best in Kenzaki's opinion a royal pain whenever she whines despite her hints of beauty. She and Nami were rivals for Dan's affections back home and they always fought over him. Where she couldn't compete with Nami in brains, she won in beauty between them.

Kiku's 'henchmen' are also with her——

Tarou Edoba, formerly as of now a chubby little glutton, who but never did he ever pick on Kenzaki ever.

Kotaro Urashima was remembered to be a very gifted slacker, but he ignored everything because it seemed stupid to him.

Seeing Kiku hanging off of Dan, Nami sighs, "Damn it! We're going to die and Dan-kun is claimed by my rival." Chousuke, Koga, Kenzaki, Hana, and Rion say in unison "Nobody cares about that latter part."

Kiku smiles "That's right! Now if you could just concede your pursuit for Dan-kun, we will gladly transport you to the Bird of Prey." Kenzaki sighs "We've got bigger problems than that at the moment, everyone."

Noticing Kenzaki without recognizing, Kiku blinks "Who's the hot redhead beside you? Another sexist Taraak man?" A self-disappointed Nami sighs, "No, it's Kenzaki Aono." Falling to the floor, Kiku immediately shocked goes "Eh? The runt? You're kidding! He's hit a growth spurt?!"

Kotaro sighs "A growth spurt was inevitable in Kenzaki's case. But no one cared in the least." Kenzaki sighs "Thanks for the support, dude." Then he pulls out his Platinum Blay Buckle and Ace Rouze Card.

Hana and Chousuke follows suite, Nami notices this and follows.

Kenzaki says, "Let's Rouze up!" The other three nod, "Okay."

The other other worlders blink in confusion, "Rouze up?"

Chousuke, Kenzaki, Nami, and Hana each place their respective Ace Rouze Cards into their buckles; Club Ace for Chousuke, Spade Ace for Kenzaki, Heart Ace for Nami, and Diamond Ace for Hana——

"**Open Belt**;" cry each Platinum Buckle, each creating a chain of colored panels stretching from one side of the Buckle, each creating a belt around the waist of the user. The new Belts call out——

"**Club Ace**, **Change Spider**!"

"**Spade Ace**, **Change Beetle**!"

"**Heart Ace**, **Change Mantis**!"

"**Diamond Ace**, **Change Stag**!"

"Henshin!" call out the four.

"**Turn Up**!"

Rectangular energy barriers form in front of the Rouze Card carrying Other Worlders and pass through them, transforming them.

Kenzaki is KR Blade again.

Chosuke transforms into KR Leangle; he is now donned in a dark green bodysuit with silver and gold armor over his chest and shoulders. On the centre of his chest are three silver circles that fit inside what looked almost like a club from the card suit. His forearms are wrapped with two gold bracelets that have two black leather belts between them. On his left arm, there's a black box-like device that has a clear panel on it. The same could be said for his shins as well. An almost cylindrical helmet that looks like it had a spider on the face covers his head; it has two large purple eyepieces for him to see through while a gold faceplate covers his mouth. In his hand was a long staff that's rounded at the end with a bladed club symbol at the top.

Hana transforms into a feminine built KR Garren. She is now donned in a red bodysuit, which has silver shoulder pads, boots, gauntlets, and chest plate. Diamond symbols are imprinted on the shoulders and the middle of the chest. On her left arm, there's a black box-like device that has a clear panel on it. The helmet is silver and has two horns sticking from the top that was like the stag beetle's pincers. The eyepieces are green and an ornate gun is holstered at her side.

Instead of Kamen Rider Chalice, which was really the form of the Mantis Undead, Nami is donned in a violet bodysuit with platinum pieces of armor. Two small silky tracts trail from the back of her shoulders and the top of her shoulder blades in any air current. A large platinum heart is adjourned on her chest plate with red outlines. Sheathed at her hips is a pair of large blue-edged scythes. The violet helmet has a heart-shaped faceguard with blue eyepieces and scythe-like horns.

Kotaro, being a Kamen Rider fan, gasps in awe "So, that's what the armor for the Heart Rouze Card Kamen Rider would be had it not been the Joker Belt!" Dan, also one, nods in genuine admiration "Yeah."

KR Kappu, Nami's name for this alternate transformation, shivers and turns to her left to find KR Kabuto walking in.

Rion gasps "Kabuto? In this world?!" Kotaro says "He's probably another like us."

KR Kabuto says "I am. **Clock Up**." He slaps the button on the right side of his belt——

"**CLOCK UP**!"

"**CLOCK OVER**!"

He disappears from his location and reappears to another, with Sakura Tendou in his arms!

Rion gasps "He's kidnapping her?!" KR Blade jumps up at the red Rider, "Not today!"

"THAT'S MY LINE, ACE OF SPADES BOZO!" shouts KR Den-O, shoving KR Blade aside. Then he assumes his trademark pose "Ore… Sanjou!"

Another Rider shows up and catches KR Blade, he is grasshopper-themed and clad in black armor. KR Blade recognizes him "Kamen Rider Black?" KR Black nods, "Yeah." Staring back at KR Kabuto, KR Blade says, "Get him!"

"But first my speech;" says KR Den-O, "Listen up, kochu-yarou. From beginning to end, I am at the climax. Don't start thinking we'll let you get away with doing something stupid! GO! GO! GO!" then with his DenGasher in sword form swinging, he charges headlong into battle! KR Blade and Black run in to get Sakura out of danger!

KR Garren draws the gun and says, "We're getting a lot of company!"

Above them, Jura and Meia show up and witness the battle taking in place below them.

"That bug-eyed red swordfighter is too energetic, I mean I could defeat him in a match" comments Jura. Meia looks at Sakura, "Why does that silver-and-blue swordsman look like he's intending on saving Sakura down there?"

A male voice behind Meia and Jura says "Pardon me, ladies!"

They look behind them and spot the bat-like Knight flipping over them and landing a flying side kick into the back of KR Kabuto's head! KR Blade catches Sakura in his arms!

'_Kenzaki-kun is holding me in his arms…_' blushes Sakura, then she dreamily cheers in her head '_! !_'

"Kamen Rider Knight?!" exclaim the Other Worlders in the reactor room. The bat knight nods, "That's me."

Tarou shakes his head, "These Kamen Riders are appearing out of the woodwork."

"**Clock Up**."

"Not this time!" says KR Blade, pulling out his Blay Rouzer.

"**NASTY VENT**!"

A large black mechanical bat zooms in over KR Kabuto and screeches at him on KR Knight's card's call. Right before KR Kabuto would press the Clock Up button, he covers his ears, even though his helmet's in the way of his hands.

KR Den-O says "And now for my——" BAM! KR Black kicks Den-O in the butt, "No, we will not kill him!"

"**THUNDER**!" "**KICK**!"

"**LIGHTNING BLAST**!"

Everyone looks back at KR Blade, who sheaths his Blay Rouzer and makes a flying jump kick at KR Kabuto, with his kicking foot crackling with static electricity!

The distracted Kabuto couldn't reach his button in time as the Lightning Blast draws closer——

BOOM!

KR Kabuto is flying from the impact, his Zecter flies off, carrying the Henshin Belt with it!

Kabuto's armor disappears, revealing a tall man with long blue-black hair.

Sakura blinks, "Oniisan?"

Everyone else exclaim "Big brother?"

* * *

Back with Duelo, Kenta brings back the person he saw earlier——

An auburn-haired young man in a Taraak soldier uniform, he innocently asks, "Did we miss the escape pods?"

One of the pirates nods "We've decided to let them go seconds ago and take any stragglers prisoners." "That's fair," sighs Kenta.

* * *

In the discarded sections of the Ikazuchi…

"Escape pods have been launched from the old section of the ship!" says one of the bridge officers.

The Prime Minister grumbles spitefully "Is this their way of pitying us?"

The commander looks to the Prime Minister and says to him "Maybe we should follow the Enterprise's example and discuss with them peacefully to resolve this matter."

However, the Prime Minister's decision to launch the Muramasa space torpedoes on them stands firm, "Isn't the Muramasa ready yet?"

* * *

On the sub-bridge of the discarded section of the Ikazuchi, Ezra gasps as she watches on the radar "Oh my! There's a missile locked onto us!"

"What?" gasps a shocked BC. She turns to Parfet, "Parfet, is it possible to move the ship?"

Parfet shakes her head, "We can't; the engine's still dead!"

* * *

On the pirate ship's bridge, the cloaked ancient captain nods "I see it from here, BC." She then groans out "Losing the loot is a shame…" then she shouts "BUT LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

* * *

In the reactor room, an unarmored Kenzaki is confronting Sakura's brother, Tsurugi, about kidnapping his own sister.

Hibiki's scream is heard. Everyone looks in the direction of the source of his scream…

Hibiki is still running away, with Dita still in pursuit.

Kiku blinks "Who… is that girl?" Dan blinks "She looks familiar."

Kenzaki blinks "They're still at it?" Hayate, back to normal, sighs as he places his sunglasses on "She's interested in him."

Meia gasps "Dita!" Jura superciliously says to her Dread leader "Did you see that, Meia? She's chasing a man."

* * *

Back in the barracks…

Duelo finishes his bandaging on Barnette's wound, "That should do it."

With the bandage secured and the proper amount of medication, there won't even be a scar.

The medic and the lawman then contemplate Barnette with natural curiosity. Like most men on Tarak, they had never seen a woman before and she's quite different from their planet's propaganda films.

Barnette clutches the arm he touched and bandaged, then notices him and Kenta looking at her in an uncomforting manner for her. "W-What?" she scowls agitatedly "Is there something interesting about me?" Duelo nods with a straight smile "Yeah, quite interesting." Kenta nods "Yes."

Barnette says to them, "Just don't expect any thanks."

"I don't," says Duelo "well, I guess I'm done here. Suppose I'll go now."

Watching carefully, Paiway jots down notes busily "He touched a total of five girls!"

Suddenly, the Kabuto Zecter shows up and drops its Henshin Belt to Duelo before landing in his hand.

Curious, Duelo asks "Isn't this the same equipment we've seen around that red warrior whose exterior armor nearly gave us all concussions?"

Paiway says "Yeah." Then she sits down thinking "But why did they fly to you?"

* * *

On the bridge of the discarded section of the Ikazuchi…

"Is the Muramasa ready to fire?" frowns the Prime Minister.

A bridge officer replies, "It's still fueling, sir!"

"It has more than enough fuel! Fire now!"

* * *

Two cylindrical torpedoes with digging edge claw tips fire from the discarded section of the Ikazuchi. The pirates do their best to quickly extract their crew out of the old Ikazuchi.

* * *

In the reactor room, Kenzaki and Hibiki crash into each other when Dita grabs a hold of Hibiki's foot.

Then the three of them begin to glow with lights swirling around them, they're being transported!

Meia and Jura grab onto Dita while the other Other Worlders grab onto Kenzaki——

* * *

Suddenly, they all find themselves in the transporter room of the Enterprise.

Meia gets up and checks herself, "I was disintegrated! Are we in heaven? Are we still alive?" Hana, with her voice changer knocked off, grunts "No, we're transported onto the U.S.S. Enterprise."

An attractive young woman with dark-brown hair dressed in a red uniform says "Honestly, Tsurugi. You had to act like that. You even lost your Kabuto Zecter." Tsurugi groans "I was just fetching my sister, Takako."

Spotting the metal buckle on the ground, Hibiki makes a dash for it and says "If this device does the same thing Kenzaki's buckle just did, then I am so out of here!"

He slips it over his abdomen, forming a silvery scalloped belt around his waist.

Hana gasps "My prototype!"

Hibiki smirks as he slaps the buckle "Henshin!"

"**Guard Up**!" announces the buckle in a dull slow mechanical voice.

Electric yellow energy emanates from the belt and wraps itself around Hibiki. As it dissipates, it places him a grey suit of armor resembling a slimmer version of the Vanguards. He has transformed into an all-new Kamen Rider-like warrior.

Dita gets up excitedly, "Yay! Alien power!"

Meia gasps and gets in front of Dita, "Dita, stay back! That man's dangerous!"

"No he's not! He's a really nice alien!" Dita said happily.

A man's voice from behind the armored Hibiki says, "That's true, young one. It's just that he's scared out of senses."

Everyone turns to face the owner of the voice… Captain Shino Enraiji stands before them with his wife.

Jura gasps in shock "Women and men? Together as a crew? That's impossible!"

"Stop right there!" shouts Meia, pointing her laser-equipped ring at the Enterprise captain.

He turns to see the bluenette and blonde aiming at him with their rings. "Now what?"

"Listen, Captain Enraiji of the Enterprise," the bluenette began. "You and your crew are coming with us!"

Shino says, "I mean you no harm, child. I never intended on beaming everyone of you on board. Nor do I hold any threats toward you."

"Well beam us back or we will use force," the replies bluenette.

"What makes you think that we'll live when the Muramasa missiles hit us?" he asks them.

Hibiki gasps, "Muramasa? When not fully fueled, they have enough explosive power to leave a very large crater on one of the moons!"

Jura's eyes widen, "WHAT?!"

Takako gasps, "We're also connecting with the Ikazuchi due to some mysterious force!"

Everyone close to her age exclaim "NO WAY!"

Hibiki turns to Captain Enraiji "Please transport us to our proper locations!"

Hana and Chousuke get to the control console and did a series of pressing of buttons. Hana says "Get ready to board your new Vanguard, Hibiki-kun."

Hibiki turns his armored head to her, "Huh? Han, what happened to your voice?" then he is transported with the Mejere women.

* * *

Surprisingly, they find their selves in the cockpits of the proper Dreads and Vanguard.

Hibiki disengages his new belt and transforms out of the armor "Still the coolest experience." Then he hugs his 'partner'.

Jura feels herself over and sighs for relief, "Ah… at least I'm still in one piece."

Meia pants slowly and sighs, "That technology doesn't come from Mejere, nor normally in real life; only in science fiction. Where did they get it?"

Dita appears in her Dread's cockpit, she giddily exclaims "Wow! Even alien technology is great!"

Of course, before Hibiki or Dita could leave…

Hibiki is having trouble with trying to move his Vanguard and Dita's Dread is stuck.

* * *

Seeing the missiles coming closer, the captain of the Mejere pirate ship sighs mournfully "Hit or miss, either way it's our destiny."

* * *

Captain Enraiji sa

* * *

ys, "Aim the photon torpedoes for the central cores of the missiles and fire! Immediately!"

* * *

Dita screams "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

* * *

Kenzaki screams "SOMEBODY SAVE THEM!"

* * *

And then the crystal orb in the reactor room glows intensely brighter…

FLASH!

* * *

In a flash of green light, the Ikazuchi, the Muramasa space torpedoes, the Mejere pirate ship, and every ship belonging to the Other Worlders disappear.

* * *

"We're losing mass, sir!" calls one of the gunners.

The Prime Minister frowns guiltily, "Should any more ships from the Federation come, I will make a public apology for endangering two of their ships in a desperate chance to save everything we've worked for."

Groups of young Other Worlders along with Jura, Meia, Dita, and Hibiki feel like they're all falling into a void of bright greenish blue light. Not only that, but Kenzaki's heart glows like a star in his chest. Hibiki is feeling the same as Kenzaki.

"What's happening?" asks Kenzaki.

They all feel that someone is watching them all.

To be continued…


	3. And… We've Lost Our Way

**Vandread Riders**

(A/N: some of this stuff may seem familiar but reading is an inspiration, anything original belongs to me, but feel free to give me some ideas. Sure there are some references to other movies, but I felt like it)

Ch. 3: _And… We've Lost Our Way_

* * *

Many light years and several Parsecs away from Taraak, in the dark silent void of space…

The abandoned section of the Ikazuchi, the female pirate ship, the starships from originating from this universe, and a lot of space junk violently reappear in a burst of greenish blue light. The Taraak and Mejere ships are mostly damaged but the other ships are still stuck to them.

* * *

In several people's minds they got images in their heads that they never thought of receiving——

A lot of the Other Worlders are actually seeing images of their selves back on the Earth in the universe they originate, with a few great exceptions. One of these includes Kenzaki reuniting with his long-lost mother almost 2 years ago and having everything cleared up between him and the public.

Hibiki's, however, is full of him struggling to climb up a mountain to prove his existence and being questioned of it.

* * *

As of this moment, most of the females, including all of the pirates, recover from the sudden inter-space jump.

On the female pirate bridge…

Captain Magno, the aged pirate captain of over a century, holds her head and groans, "This doesn't look like the afterlife. Where are we and what happened?"

Her bridge crew is also regaining consciousness and don't seem any worse for wear.

The dark-skinned pirate bridge bunny says, "I'll check right now." Her name is Amarone. She is of Egyptian descent with long dreads of dark hair and parts of her gold-and-dark red dress possess a slightly similar theme. She runs radar operations.

Then the ship starts shuddering as something takes hold of it, startling the pirates.

Glowing tendrils and tethers of crystal and light are now being given off from the older vessel's crystal orb reactor core, the Paksis Pragma, before thickly constricting the other ships and space junk. All this amount of Paksis crystal extensions envelope them all in a rather confusing conjoined combination of crystalline cocoons.

"What the heck is going on?" asks a surprised Captain Magno, "Is the crystal trying to eat the ship or something?!"

The blonde bridge bunny says "Not just our ship, but it looks like the other ships caught with us during that sudden jump are being affected too!" She is Belvedere Coco. Her hair is short-trimmed and she's in a pink uniform with green trims and a white tie. On her head is a purple band with a green ring. She runs Dread navigations.

* * *

On the bridge of the Enterprise, the blonde wife of Captain Enraiji wakes up and finds the bridge becoming engulfed in crystal too.

Captain Enraiji groans a little while opening his eyes, "Oh man, that crystal's got one hell of a will of its own. Mio dear, check the crystal, see if you can dig up whatever it's planning."

Touching the crystals, his wife Mio concentrates for a few seconds and then sighs "Well, that stinks. It's adapting everything the collected ships have and fusing them all together. It also looks like it has gained ability to wield the Force too, dear."

Ken, the black-haired young man who runs the navigation station, asks "Next order, captain?"

After a brief moment of silence, Captain Shino Enraiji says "With about 150 female pirates from Mejere, who are weary of anything with x and y chromosomes, we shouldn't be fools who rush in where angels fear to tread and surrender."

Mio says, "Mioha's gone, sir." Shino looks at his wife and asks, "Not entirely."

* * *

In the reactor room of the discarded section of the Ikazuchi, several human figures were scattered about the place and a lot of space-faring vehicles and mecha are cocooned in crystal too.

Jura grunts and moans as she struggles to get up. Meia gets up, "Jura!" she then grabs her head to ease her aching head. They're both quite surprised to find themselves lying on the floor. Then Meia remembers, "Dita!"

"Hi!" calls back Dita, waving toward them, who is lying on her stomach distant from Meia and Jura. "Over here!"

The over-excitable redheaded Dread pilot mumbles out, "Something went 'beep' and then 'whoosh'! And then I don't know what happened next. Alien power is _SO_ amazing!"

Meia stands up and nods off, at least no one are terribly injured. Then she looks up to find the crystals coating up the place. '_What is happening now?_' she thinks.

* * *

The junk is quickly being within the crystal like fish in water, before getting reshaped and forming new parts of whatever this living crystal by particles of blue-green light.

* * *

In the pirate bridge, Captain Mango asks through communiqué to her register chief, "Gascogne, do you think you can detach us?"

The muscular woman with green-gray hair in a ponytail and clad in a headband, yellow shirt, red pants, and a sleeveless metal-padded vest with red lapels shakes her head, "Nope, even a laser cannot rip this sucker. It's too thick as it is." Behind her on the holographic screen, her register crew in pink-and-white maid outfits are struggling to get them separated. "And if we don't hurry, this place will get swallowed up along with our new neighbors', too."

BC reports, "The corrosion has spread throughout the ships." Parfet reports "The engine's dead, too. It won't move."

Captain Magno sighs "So we've got to get rid of it at the source then. BC, Parfet, come with me; I'm going up!" "Roger!"

* * *

In the same crystal-wrapped zone where Meia, Jura, and Dita reside…

Mioha, the mysterious woman who with Enraiji's Enterprise crew, sits down the unconscious Kenzaki and rubs a gentle hand to his left temple with a content smile.

Nearby Kenzaki are Hana, Chousuke, and Nami. A couple feet away from them are Dan, Kiku, Tarou, and Kotaro. At Kenzaki's feet is an unconscious Sakura with Momotarou, Koga, Hayate, and Rion. Close by them are Tsurugi, a strange lean yet muscular young man with short black hair, a snoozing girl with red hair clad in a green engineering suit and glasses, and Takako.

The pirates' smallest ships are able to exit and enter through the exposed parts of the discarded section of the Ikazuchi and their ship.

Entering the location where the three Dread pilots were awaiting them, Captain Magno marvels the location for a second, "This is quite amazing."

Meia and her two subordinates greet them as the squadron leader apologizes to the ancient female, "I'm very sorry that you had to come all the way up here, Captain." "There's no need for you to apologize" says the ancient captain, waving it off "I just had to see this with my own eyes."

Captain Magno walks around and looks about the room at the Paksis' handiwork. The entire chamber is covered in crystals. "Unbelievable." She then caught sight of some movement and her gaze fell on a certain man who is just next to an egg-shaped robot that is still experiencing static.

"This was the man that Dita was chasing after," explains Meia. "It's been a long time since I saw a man" says the female captain, "Were their faces really this funny-looking?"

"Only some of them," replies another woman's voice.

The pirates turn to the direction of the voice and find Mioha stroking an unconscious Kenzaki's temple.

"And who are you?" asks Captain Magno. Jura blinks in awe, "I don't believe it! She's more elegant-looking than I!"

"My name is Mioha Aono of the U.S.S. Enterprise," replies Mioha "if you're after men from Taraak there are only five on the ship, excluding the others, who, by the way, have absolutely no problems with the female gender."

"And the reason you're stroking that boy's hair, Aono-san?" asks Captain Magno.

"He's one of the others not from Taraak," sighs Mioha "plus he's been blasted around just like we have. Me, the females with me and the Enterprise crew are also from another world without any problems toward men."

After a moment of silence, a few disbelieving pirates exclaim, "THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

"Quiet please… I'm trying to rest," groans Kotaro. The attention of the women turned to the black-haired slacker, who is quite awake but lying on his back. He softly groans out "Go ahead and put us behind bars. It still won't change the truth given to you."

Bursting out from a steel container, armed with a pipe but thinking it was a blaster weapon, comes a ragged woman in her early thirties. She has dark-brown hair with black stripes, an athletic figure, is of Japanese descent, and in an old violet dress. It's Kuchichuwa Ino-sensei from back in the home universe of the Other Worlders!

She shrieks out "It's Kuchichuwa; Kuchichuwa Ino-sensei! Do panic! MOTHER*******!" Then she points at the pirates "GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

Meia blinks and asks "Or what? You're going to shoot us with a 15-centimeter-calibur titanium pipe?" Ino realizes the fix she's in, "Oops."

* * *

Later, Hibiki wakes up in the brig, behind energy bars, next to Kenzaki, again. He groans out "Oh, man! Not again!"

This time, however, neither of them is alone and the prison and brig has a _lot_ more space than before!

"What the heck is happening to the ship?" asks a male voice "We're all in such a big mess now!"

Nearby Hibiki in a corner is a certain doctor from Taraak who hadn't fled with his crew in the escape pods before being caught in the explosion. Nearby Kenzaki were the male Other Worlders plus Chousuke.

"We're back in the brig with people from back home?" asks Kenzaki.

"Looks like your friend is awake, Mr. Aono" greets Duelo.

Next to Duelo are Bart, Kenta, and the mysterious male Kenta caught.

"Can I ask for your name, sir?" asks Kenzaki.

"My name is Duelo McFile."

The mysterious fugitive introduces himself "I am Firenze Sampson, First Class citizen turned stowaway because I didn't show up on time. If we get back to Taraak, which is doubtful, I'll be lucky to be forced to retake the Test of Manhood."

"I'm First Class Peace-Justice Police Officer Kenta Aoida."

Bart introduces himself while boasting "Call me Bart Garsus, I'm a First Class citizen of Taraak!"

"Look at it in our point of view, Mr. Garsus" says Chousuke "we're all the same in prison."

"The young boy is right" nods Duelo, then he looks at Hibiki "What about you, Mr. Third Class Citizen?"

"Don't make fun of me!" scowls Hibiki, "I'm Hibiki Tokai, and I'm not your typical Third Class citizen!"

Kenta states to Hibiki "The way I see it, you _did_ interrupt the ceremony. Right before the Enterprise saved your life. Like our friend, Firenze, you snuck in through the loading bay area with some homemade equipment and got lost until you both got to your designations, but got past security. Am I correct?"

Hibiki sighs "You're pretty good."

Koga says "If this huge place is the brig, they should've had the decency to get more beds for us."

"Huh?" gasps Chousuke "My experimental space expansion unit was applied here?"

Dan blinks in confusion, "You invented a device that grants more space on the inside of a certain structure?" Chousuke nods. Kotaro sighs "Very nice, work."

Hibiki waves his hands "Wait! Are you saying that… we're captured by the women?!" Hayate nods "Seems that way."

"We're all going to die!" shrieks Bart "They're going to eat our livers!" "Actually, I find liver quite delicious" shrugs Koga.

Every Taraakean in the brig looks at him; three out of five are horrified at Koga's response.

"He means _beef_ liver! Not _human_ liver, blockheads!" shouts Kenzaki.

With the exception of Bart, the Taraak men are intrigued. The tanned doctor says "You truly aren't from around Taraak." Kenzaki nods.

It's then that they notice that the egg robot Hibiki and Kenzaki had been carrying is lying nearby with its screen showing nothing but static. Then it quivers and suddenly sprouts metal arms and legs. Its screen activates and displays a pair of large eyes, calling out "Pyoro!" The thing stands up and looks about while scratching the top of its head in confusion, "Hm… where am I? Who am I?"

"You've changed a bit, haven't you?" asks Hibiki.

The black-haired navigator chuckles a bit "Looks like something out of a cartoon!"

* * *

Amazingly enough, the multiple ships are all still reformatting and fusing together.

* * *

Where Gascogne's crew is, one of her underlings calls out while looking at a hole in the ceiling "Wow! Ms. Gasco, it looks like we're connected from the inside now too!"

"Sheesh! Well, that's just great…" sighs Gascogne "I had no idea that the Paksis had an incredible amount of power and energy." Then she growls out "and by the way, it's not Gasco. It's Gascogne!"

She doesn't like her given nickname, which is apparently a running gag in her life.

* * *

In the engine room…

"It's just as I thought!" says Parfet "They're linked down to the core!"

"We've got to do something!" says one of her bespectacled workers.

"Search for a route!" orders Parfet "Try to insert the Linestar Particles into the main cable over there right away! Just make it so that we can control this thing!"

"Roger!" reply her workers.

Magno communicates with her, "Parfet, have you done enough analysis on the mysterious gear you've come across yet?"

Parfet sighs "Almost. We're a bit preoccupied with the Paksis at the moment. It's still kind of amazing that several women were on Taraak. Maybe they were telling the truth and they aren't from Mejere."

* * *

In the decontamination rooms...

The female Other Worlders are being sprayed with especially cold water, along with the other Dread pilots.

Kiku shivers "We're not even part of the pirate crew! Why must we be _decontaminated_ too?!" "They couldn't tell the difference when our disguises fell off" coolly replies Nami "Besides, they don't know it yet."

"Paiway! Let us out! It's freezing in here!" shouts Barnette as she continues to pound on the glass as she and four other pirates are being doused with cold water with the Other Worlder women. They're all in their undergarments and are in danger of catching pneumonia.

However, the apprentice nurse sits at her desk and shakes her head, "Not until all the male germs are gone." she then goes back to writing in her diary, "Even in times of crisis like this, the super-cute teen idol, Paiway, does not lose her cool."

"Male germs?" asks Mio Enraiji, "What are all these Mejerean pirates? 10 years old? While it would make sense since men from Taraak and women from Mejere come from different planets, they're acting like men had some kind of disease on them. I swear that it's just as bad as little kids and cooties."

"Teen idol?" asks a shivering Ino-sensei, "She's a _very_ long way from said title, by a couple of years. She also couldn't tell that some of the occupants here aren't part of their crew."

Kiku shouts at Nami "How can some of you be cool with this decontamination process? Especially you, Nami?! I'm freezing my ovary and hair out!" Nami coolly and calmly replies "A: I'm part-Ainu so I'm genetically most accustomed to harsh natural weathers, and B: I really needed this since we've been on a blistering hot environment for 19 months."

The redhead Other Worlder, whose name is Shizuna Suzuhara, exclaims "It's still no excuse for waking up the Enterprise's engineer abruptly like that. I'd like to get out now and have something more plentiful than Chinese food!"

Mio sighs, "I guess you would want out, huh?" Every other woman who is not keeping composure shout "YES!"

Mio waves her hands and the sprinklers cease and the chamber doors open. This event shocks the occupants of the decontamination chamber.

Paiway blinks and turns to the chamber, finding a clearly miffed if not composed Mio Enraiji looking down at her. The young girl turns for the intercom but she suddenly finds herself floating in midair facing Mio, who wags her finger while clicking her tongue at the little girl, "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Nami asks Hana "Don't tell me; you believe she's using the Force?" Hana shrugs "I guess."

The Other Worlder women leave the room, with the shocked pirates, and Paiway, in the then reactivated decontamination chamber. Kiku places a towel over her body, "Let's see how they like a taste of their _own_ medicinal ways!"

With the Mejereans look to their nurse, Paiway shivers "We're trapped… and the console to the decontamination process is outside." The older women cry out, Lucy-style "WAAAAAH!!"

* * *

On the bridge…

"Captain," says one of the female pirates on communicator console "I've double-checked the area, and size-wise I feel that this section of the ship is getting much bigger inside than out."

"So, whatever these crystals got its hands on have applied it to the ship giving us extra space to work with."

Mio's voice is heard, "So it would seem, the ship has already become so big that if I were to walk I'd be ready for bed too soon."

Buzam and Captain Magno turn in shock and ask her "How did you get out?" "It wasn't hard. Besides, your little apprentice nurse doesn't know a thing about medicine. Your girls would catch pneumonia at _that_ prolonged amount of time" answers Mio.

* * *

Shizuna arrives into the engineering section, catching the eyes of Parfet and her workers. She looks down and realizes "Oh pooh! I forgot my engineering suit!"

* * *

In the brig, an irate Hibiki grumbles at the robot "Want me to fix you or something?!" The egg bot exclaims, "Don't make fun of me! I'm not broken!" "Well, what do you want?!" shouts Hibiki.

Hearing footsteps, everyone looks up to find Nami and several other Other Worlder women. Nami is now dressed in a blue top with red short skirt over shorts.

"Nam, Han! You've escaped!" exclaims Hibiki, "You can get us out of here! You're——"

Nami sighs "I suppose the truth should be let out." Hana says "You see, the truth is that Nami and I are females. But we're not from Mejere."

"What?!" gasps Hibiki "Nam and Han were really women?!"

Kenta blinks and then says, "So _that_ is why you've said you've got _extremely_ high standards."

Hana says to Duelo, "Sorry for deceiving you like that, but Kenzaki and the others along with me are from another universe entirely. We don't eat men's guts, so you're safe from us."

Bart is shocked straight out. Hana was with him at the ceremony and she was a woman the whole time. She, like the other women from Mejere, is unlike what the propaganda displayed but he is still afraid because he's never seen one before.

Hana says to Duelo, "You said you'd like to study women, you can start with me." The licensed doctor from Taraak says "Um… thank you."

BC and several guards show up, she says to the Other Worlder women "So, just like Lieutenant-Officer Mio of the lost Enterprise said, you are different from us. This whole coming from a different universe thing is a bit farfetched but seeing where you all got those spaceships and mysterious equipment we shouldn't turn away from the thought." Then she turns to the frightened Hibiki, "Calm down, this is the safest place for you boys, considering your situation."

Bart says to the Other Worlder men, "Don't listen to her! They're still going to eat our guts! The kid said so himself, we're all the same to the Mejereans!" Kotaro says to the blonde First Class citizen "No, Chousuke said we're all the same in the brig. Besides, these women don't look a thing like cannibals."

BC blinks in confusion, "Eat your guts?" The guards laugh at them, since Bart was fooled by the propaganda.

BC smiles "Before we have dinner, I'd like to ask you something. Especially our new _alien_ friends. Come with us."

* * *

In the engineering room, Parfet takes analysis of the Den-O Belt after summoning it with the Rider Pass, just after analyzing the other strange equipment.

"This is really an interesting device," marvels Parfet.

'_It's about to get more interesting, young lady,_' says a man's voice in her head.

Parfet panics a bit, she looks around for the man who said it. Then a blue haze overcomes her——

'_What the heck happened to me?!_' mentally screams Parfet.

The new Parfet Blue, who now has her normal glasses replaced with smaller horn-rimmed ones and her let down with a blue streak on the left lock. She says, "I'm so sorry, young miss. But I'm not used to entering women. Even those as beautiful as you."

Parfet cannot believe her ears; some male creature possessing her is complimenting her beauty, which no one has done before. If she's still in control she could be seen blushing now. Whoever it is cannot be from Taraak, he's too nice. But using her willpower, she is able to force the mysterious subject out of her and regain control of her body!

She removes the belt and sighs, relieved to "This device is definitely what Dita would consider extraterrestrial."

* * *

In the corridor, the prisoners and additional women follow BC and the guards for interrogation.

Hibiki is befuddled. The women, those of Mejere and those from another universe, are very odd to him. "What do they have in there anyway?" asks Hibiki, looking at the bosoms and derrières of the women.

Kenzaki knows that very few women would tolerate such an immodest action, which Hibiki is about to do to Nami. He knows enough about some fine points about etiquette and behavior from back home, despite his liking of the attractive of the fairer sex, that Hibiki is about to do something that's considered very improper back home.

Kenzaki notices his friend from Taraak about to poke at Nami's butt and says "Hibiki-san, don't touch her there." Hibiki asks "Why not?" before unwittingly poking his finger at the Nami's buttock.

She yelps a bit and softly replies, "Because how would you feel if someone else pokes you in _that_ region?" Nami understands Hibiki was curious, so she refrains herself from slapping him.

Hibiki realizes what she had meant by that and shrieks, gaining the attention of the pirates escorting them and the other people from another universe!

Looking slightly paler, Hibiki squeaks out "I think I'm weirded out!"

* * *

In the place designated for interrogation, the men sit down in a place with looks like a bathhouse with space-themed wallpaper. A lot of men keep away from Bart, who looks ready to soil himself.

Hibiki is shocked pale learning that it was improper to touch a woman.

The little egg-bot reprimands him "It's rude of you do that to a lady!"

Hibiki still has no complete idea about women, but he understands one aspect so far.

Captain Enraiji says "'We should surrender' I said, 'We consent to be your prisoners' I said, 'We are not part of your worlds'——" "I said" finishes his wife.

"My goodness!" says the pirate captain, entering the room "I came here to see the prisoners and most of them are not from the two planets we're most familiar with and most of them are all just kids!"

The little robot leaps about to the older captain, "Hey, hey! It's time to interrogate! I'll tell you everything!"

Bart coughs out, "Backstabbing little traitor."

"Well, well," smiles Captain Magno Vivian "it's a NAVI-robot. How nostalgic! It's amazing to find one that still functions."

Duelo is confused "I'm not following this." Kenta nods, "Neither am I. You seem rather familiar with this ship and its technology, I find it odd that an elderly woman such as you would know much about this ship since this has been on Taraak for nearly an entire century."

Parfet arrives and says to the Other Worlders, "And some of you seem rather familiar with the technology you bring and the cultures we come from despite not coming from them yourselves. I find it intriguing that the technology of the gear you possess surpass even Mejere and Taraak combined."

Hibiki asks "What about the Ikazuchi? Isn't it supposed to be a men's ship?"

Captain Magno says "Before that, the Ikazuchi was a colonization ship."

"Huh?" reply the more unstable Taraak men.

Captain Magno glares at the Taraak men with a slight smirk "Oh, you don't know anything, do you? This old ship that you claim to be your world's personal property was actually part of a colonization fleet that took off from a planet called Earth a hundred years ago, a century in fact, and this was before you're fathers were ever born. But then, unfortunately, your cowardly and sneaky grandfathers stole this section of the ship at the dead of night and took it with them while running away."

The robot squeaks out "They overhauled the old battleship and added residential quarters." Hana asks, "While the women took the other section escaped with the most technology and moved to the more prosperous planet which is known as Mejere?"

The pirate captain nods, "Yes. As of now, we find ourselves back on this battleship fusing together with other ships. It's still our business you know, so we'll gladly take the ship."

Kotaro huffs "I'd say it was stupid on both sides if you ask me." One of the Mejerean guards snaps at him "How dare you insult Lady Grand Ma, you Taraak filth!" "How could you say that it was stupid?" shrieks Bart, obviously trying to defend Lord Grand Pa.

Captain Enraiji and Mio close their eyes and say in unison "I agree with him." Both prior subjects exclaim "How could you?!"

Kenzaki asks "Isn't it possible that there was some major misunderstanding? The men of Taraak say that women are monsters that forced them into hard labor while you say that they abandoned females out of fear. I say someone on both sides are making a big deal out of a petty argument and decided they couldn't take it anymore."

Although what Kenzaki hypothesizes was softer, some of both Mejere and Taraak find it hard to believe and scoff at him.

Rion says to the young Aono, "You know, Kenzaki-kun, Sakura-chan was going to say the exact same thing 19 months ago before we could go into trouble with their council and get branded for heresy." Hana says to her old friend "I've explained that to him too."

Meia sighs and quickly replies "Telling them the history is a waste of time captain, we should just dump them off the ship and spare us the trouble. Things are already unstable enough as it is."

Captain Magno says "Relax Meia, I doubt these five could cause that much trouble to us, there are only five from Taraak of them after all. We'll carefully consider how we want to cook these fellas up." As she licks her chops at them, Hibiki and Bart sweat bullets!

Kiku, fearing for the life of her crush and probable future father of her children, pushes Kenzaki, Kotaro, Tarou, Koga, Hibiki, and the dark-haired man not introduced toward the pirates "Oh no! You're not cooking Dan-kun in no oil! He's skinny, he's tough, and he'll give you indigestion! Eat these six; they're young, fat, plump, and delicious! No unpleasant aftertaste——"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE BELIEVING IN THAT PROPAGANDA NONSENSE!" shouts Mio. That ceases the actions of Kiku toward the other boys.

Slightly startled but then regaining composure, Captain Magno continues "However, I am more concerned with our other guests; the ones from another universe. Judging by the way they act around each other, I can say with an absolute certainty that none of you are from either Taraak or Mejere… so you two are unknown to me. So then, care to tell us who you all are and what _these_ are?"

Parfet pushes a cart forward, displaying the gear the Other Worlders carried. She and four more of her underlings are making careful observations while listening.

"As you can plainly see," says the pirate captain, "none of you will be getting these back at the moment. I wish for the safety of my crew. I can't be sure if you're threats or not. Especially after what Dita told us what she saw some of you do."

"Most of the equipment don't come from our universe," says Kenzaki "half of it was required from what was fictional to us while the other half was modified by mysterious means within arrival." Hana says "Plus some of the things we'll tell you may sound rather outlandish, ma'am… you might not even believe us."

"Try me," says Captain Magno "tell us why you're all in need of such equipment while traveling in our universe."

Nami says, "We got the gear and we were given the job roles as the real life versions of superheroes and space adventurers."

"Superheroes and space adventurers?" blink the people originating from this universe.

* * *

In the newly forming and growing Bio Park, a biological zone of genuine nature on the ship, Ezra is searching through star charts through a pod-shaped telescope-like device through the dome above and Dita is lying down beside her.

"Oh no!" sighs Ezra in self-disappointment "None of them match. I just don't get it."

"You don't get it?" asks Dita, "It's an amazing thing to come across an alien!"

Ezra smiles in agreement "You're right, it is amazing. We thought Paksis was just an energy source, but it's restoring the entire ship, fusing it with the others, and revamping them all at once, creating a new ship altogether!"

"Made like new, fused, and revamped, huh?" sighs a smiling Dita, "If I get abducted——"

She stops in mid-sentence seeing Ezra experiencing something, "Ezra, what's the matter? Don't you feel well?" Ezra gives her a reassuring smile "Oh no, I'm fine, Dita. It's just that I was thinking about everyone."

Dita looks up to the stars again, "I think about them too, all the veterans and friends we left behind back at our base." "I hope we get to go back soon, I'd really like that," sighs Ezra.

Then, with the eye what made placed Dita into Dread flight training, she gasps as she spots something amongst the stars!

Ezra asks, "What is it?" Dita points out there with a big smile, "Hey, look at that over there!" "Where?" asks Ezra, looking through her star chart/telescope device looking for what Dita is seeing, then she spots several moving red spots and dark gold ones opposite from them.

Worried, Ezra asks "Oh no! What do you think it could be?" Dita puts on a very catty but cute smile with starry eyes in awe and joy, "Isn't it obvious? It's a UFO!"

Dita is quite obviously an extraterrestrial otaku.

* * *

Back in the decontamination chamber, everyone is huddling together trying to keep warm. Paiway screams, "I don't believe this! That old bag couldn't be one of our own people! Magic stuff like that only happens in movies!" "Well, now I believe in magic, Paiway, beyond that of fortunetelling, all thanks to her!" cries Barnette.

* * *

Back in the bathhouse, Mio sneezes. Shino says "Gesundheit."

On the bright side, during interrogation, the prisoners are given merciful snacks during the long explanations.

"So," says Magno, eating her red gelatin snack "you are now real life and mixed versions of your home dimension's fictional elite fighters who dedicate their selves to protecting the public and fighting against forces that regular folks couldn't handle and the fictional items and powers given to you at the times you each arrived are as of now fact. Of course, you had some powers and skills of your own beforehand in real life. Do I paint an accurate picture?"

"Yes, Captain Mango" nods Captain Enraiji.

Captain Magno says "Most of the children here were just students still in school and not at war like we are. You, Captain Shino Enraiji, are a famous writer in your universe and your partner, Mio, is a doctor experienced in the biology of both genders. But then someone in your world plotted and created a genuine device, which caused the phenomena responsible for your disappearances from your universe and created this twisted universe as you said. Also in your reality, we were nothing but fictional characters to you… but you refuse to tell what would happen in the future?"

Hana nods, "Yes, Captain Magno."

"I guess I can live with that. As for the Taraak men with us; the long-haired young man from Taraak is a doctor, the second one is a police officer, the third is a collector, the shorter one——"

Meia says, "He is an attacker; I saw him climbing into one of the Vanguards of the men when we were already leaving the area and putting on powered exoskeleton battle armor back on the Enterprise before we got transported to this region in space."

"Hey!" shouts Hibiki, "I'm not a——" BAM! Bart elbows Hibiki in the gut hard, stopping him from saying what he wanted to say. Hibiki then glares at the First Class citizen and says in a grim and angry tone, "Why you…" while the First Class Citizen smiles smugly.

Hana looks for the transformation module that Hibiki took, "You see, Captain Magno, I built the armor, Hibki-san was just putting it on after observing us transform just to protect himself. Plus, technically we did intentionally transport him to said Vanguard."

Jura says "He also provided us with the knowledge of the devastating power of the men's Muramasa missiles."

"So, he's a combat pilot, mechanic, and manufacturing assistant then?" asks Captain Magno.

"W-Wait a sec——" interjects Hibiki.

Suddenly, a message from Ezra through the ships' intercom alerts everyone, "Something is approaching!" BC answers, "Male reinforcements?" Ezra says "Actually——" "IT'S UFOS!" cries Dita's voice alongside her.

"Oh great," groans Kotaro "this is the worst."

* * *

Outside of deep space the unknown objects that Dita claims to be UFOs appear. They resemble octopus-like fighters with four arms/legs, in a segmented body and had one red glowing eyes that apparently doubled as a laser cannon.

There are also dark-golden UFOs flashing around. They resemble a combination TIE starfighters from 'Star Wars' and harrier jets with vulture head-and-neck like extended cockpits. Their cockpit viewports or windshields are pure silver in appearance with glowing yellow 'eyes'. They also possess strange block-like parts on the back.

There is several of each of them, and they waste little to no time attacking the still transforming ship.

* * *

Several cracks appear on the ship's internal sector, namely in the same room that the others are in. And the roof and walls begin to crack as well; dust and rust falls in, along with debris and mortar. The NAVI-robot panics and moves about while the announcement comes on the intercom, "They're attacking us!" These unknown forces have just started attacking the ship without warning or provocation. "These aliens are really upset!"

Green slime oozes from the cracks and crystallize, startling the occupants in the room. Enraiji says "Looks like that little redhead of yours is right, they're attacking us in an upset manner." Then he reaches out to the Force, catching the bowl of Magno's afternoon snack in midair before it fell from her hands! She looks to him and says, "Thanks, it nearly got ruined because of those attackers."

Kenzaki then displays fire in his eyes, "The bastards…" The pirates look at him with confusion, "Huh?" Hana gulps "You might want to let Kenzaki-kun out into battle, Captain Magno. Trust me." Still untrusting of men, no matter what universe they're from, Meia sneers, "How will we know he won't attack us?" Sakura shouts "KENZAKI-KUN ISN'T LIKE THAT!"

Along with the tremor coupled by Sakura's outburst, Meia falls on her posterior, shocked at her. Never has she seen Sakura so defensive about something, especially about a man. Still, she comes from the same universe as most of these other men.

Koga blinks and shrugs "Give him hell, Kenzaki." Kenzaki roars and grabs the KR Blade gear before dashes out. Tarou says "He and I are alike; we hate food getting wasted." Jura gawks "What weird men."

Hana picks up her KR Garren gear, "I'm going out there too. I'm his babysitter." As she leaves to follow Kenzaki, Meia blinks "Babysitter?"

Nami picks up the KR Kappu gear, "What the hell?" As she runs out, the muscular young Other Worlder male with black hair, whose name is Raiden Li, says "What a fiery young woman!"

Chousuke grabs his KR Leangle gear, "Hey, wait up!" Magno gasps "What a brave kid."

Meia sighs, "I'll get the Dreads moving out!" then she and Jura move out.

Parfet reaches her communicator and asks one of her other subordinates "Can we move?" "We need you here, chief! We don't know how to control it at all! Plus the automatic defense system is barely functioning!" Shizuna says "Allow me to assist you, I've been an engineer for 19 months and it shouldn't be a problem for extra hands… chief!" Parfet nods "Let's go!" then they along with the other subordinates with them run to the reactor room!

* * *

As the assault gets worse outside, Meia asks on her communicator "Barnette, where are you?" She replies through hers "Don't you remember? That cruel woman from another world used some sort of magic and locked us all in the decontamination chamber, with Paiway, and we can't get out! Plus we're all freezing to death!"

* * *

Hearing that as a plea for help, Mio says "I'll get them out as soon as possible before they catch death of pneumonia or hypothermia!" she then dashes off for the decontamination room!

* * *

With Gascogne, Meia asks through her communicator "What about you, Ms. Gasco?" Gascogne says, "Most of the Dreads can't get out; they got swallowed up by the Paksis. There's nothing I can do, but I'll head up there right now." "Roger!" "Listen, it's not Gasco, it's Gascogne!"

* * *

Still running after the raging Kenzaki, Meia asks through her communicator "Jura, Dita, what are your location?" "Dita and I are heading towards the platform right now" replies Jura.

* * *

As soon as Jura and Dita arrived to the platform, what is left of their Dreads are slightly larger and remodeled versions of their original fighter craft since they were engulfed by the Paksis minutes ago, along with a large gold-and-yellow Vanguard, and 16 other fighters, each bearing the name of a young Other Worlder.

Jura asks in awe "What is going on around here? Are they really ours?" Dita arrives and exclaims "Wow!"

Not willing to afford much time to waste, Meia and her two fellow pilots do a quick systems check and the leader sees that most of the core systems had not been altered too greatly by the Paksis when they were seemingly turned by the crystal's effects, their hard points still exist for their missile payloads.

Grasping the green orb controls familiar to her, Meia says "Looks like the systems hasn't changed too much, how about you?"

Jura answers, "I think I can fly it."

Dita replies with her bubbly joy, "I'm positive that they must have powered up! It's so exciting!"

"Just don't try anything foolish, alright?" says Meia. Her two fellow pilots reply "Roger!"

Then the first three fighters are off like shots!

Then she hears four more engines roaring—— looking beside her is Kenzaki in a red fighter shaped slightly like an arrowhead flying out, he is followed by a rectangular club-shaped white fighter piloted by Chousuke, then by Nami in a cylindrical heart-shaped blue fighter, and finally by Hana in a thick disc-shaped green fighter with diamond-shaped marks.

"Suzaku Blade ready to burn and cut!" (Kenzaki)

"Byakko Spear ready to roar and pierce!" (Chosuke)

"Seiryu Arrow ready to surge and fly!" (Nami)

"Genbu Gun ready to quake and blast!" (Hana)

Dita cheers, "We should get cool names for our Dreads too!"

Meia shouts, "Dita! Those two boys are prisoners! The Other Worlder women I'm not so sure!"

During combat with the dark-gold fighters, Nami asks, "Do you know how to fly these things, Hana-san?" Hana says "Actually it feels a whole lot easier than any controls I've memorized, even more than on the Falcon and they seem pretty easy."

"No way!" gasps Nami, "I'm flying like a pro with this thing the Paksis gave me? This feels great!"

Kenzaki lets off a red shot which hits its mark with one of the fighters, then the resulting explosion from his laser blast is shown to be greater than expected. Shocking him out of his rage, "Whoa…"

Jura says "That Dread of his packs extremely heavy heat."

Hana takes several hits from all sides, "HEY!" Then she notices from her consoles "Wow, I've got thick and tough armor. So no worries."

Chousuke reports "My fighter's got incredible speed and maneuverability, one could mistake it for a rocket."

Dita is flying crazy, with her blue Dread leaving blue trails behind her like she's writing with colored smoke in an air show, even longer than that of her fellow pilots' Dreads'! On the other hand, she's flying amazingly well around the enemy fleet and her allies.

She also tries to reason with the enemies "I come from a very peaceful race! Maybe we can talk about what's bothering you!"

Jura frowns and says to the trainee "Dita, these are our enemies!" then she blinks in surprise "Hey, wait a minute, she was _never_ that good a pilot."

Meia shoots down more of the strange enemy fighters as her Dread seems to accelerate at a much faster pace than before, much more than the specifications were capable of using. She says with awe in her voice, "The instruments respond differently this time and the speed of my Dread is far faster than before."

A new voice is heard, "You pirates are a scourge that must be eliminated. The Other World rebels and federation scum with you are also our targets. We of the Xenon Empire shall be your executioners while the Harvesters shall collect you. Defeat is inevitable."

Tracing the voice coming from one of the enemy fighters, Jura gasps "Xenon Empire?! I never heard of _them_ before!"

"These are certainly not from Mejere, but they definitely sound like they are _not_ from Taraak!" gasps Meia.

"It's unknown to me," says Hana. Then she thinks to herself '_In fact, I don't know any Xenon Empire in the anime nor the manga, so where did it come from?_'

Chousuke gasps "Rebels and federation? The dark-gold fighters must think of us as a big threat to them."

Kenzaki chirps in, "Call me a pirate before we started? Let me at 'em!"

Nami asks, "What are the Harvester group harvesting exactly?"

Dita roars out "It's obvious, isn't it?! These are truly evil aliens!"

Jura groans "Oh boy…"

Meia gasps quietly, "I don't want to believe it, but maybe… this time… Dita is right?"

Nami looks at her fighter's radar, "I'm picking up two slightly bigger ships."

In a distance in different positions from the fighters, a black seed-like ship and a dull gray broomstick/needle/dragonfly craft——

The black seed ship opens up and 'spits' out two cubes that seconds later each explode into 24 new octopus-like fighters.

Launching from the top and bottom of the other craft; as if from a catapult or crossbow; more of the mysterious Xenon fighters speed toward the cocooned ships' fighters.

Kenzaki gasps "Looks like we found the source of the fighters."

Meia frowns at the sheer number of unknown enemies, "What the heck is these delivery systems? Are these Harvesters and this Xenon Empire truly aliens?"

* * *

Back on the fusing ships… they heard the communications from the Xenon fighters with Dita's Dread…

Rion says, "I don't like the sound of that." Koga asks "What?" "This Xenon Empire shouldn't be part of this universe at all, but it sounds like nobody wants us to find out who or what they really are. Hence the name 'Xenon'."

"All crew members has completed the move" announces one of the bridge operators. Another exclaims, "Where is this?"

Captain Magno looks to her second-in-command, "BC, take control of the bridge!" BC nods and begins to head for it——

CRASH! Pieces of the ceiling and a wall collapses and falls on a green-haired female security guard. Her brown-haired friend with a braided ponytail moves in to try to help her, "Are you okay? I'll get you out of here!"

Suddenly, the Kabuto Zecter buzzes and speaks with a different voice, more recognizable to Kamen Rider fans as that of Souji Tendou "Do not move her." Then it flies to Duelo's side, the doctor nods "I agree."

The doctor leaps in with a smile, "Don't worry about me, I'm a doctor. I just want to see what I can do for her." Rion pulls out some bandages and runs to the side of the injured guard "Me too, I've gone to hospital school. Let me assist you; I am a woman too." "Sounds good," nods Duelo. He then instructs the women with him to help him remove the debris and get her to sick bay.

Koga asks himself "Since when do Zecters talk by themselves?" Hayate suggests "Maybe it's because their AI systems are upgraded to be given voices to go with their sentience."

Watching this, Bart also sees this as an opportunity. He then turns to Magno and smiles smugly "Well now, it appears that you could use some assistance here. We may come from worlds where we are enemies, our friends from this new federation and the rebels from the other universe appear to be the only ones who are playing peacekeepers asking us to work together."

Shino Enraiji nods with a more modest smile "Yes, the young blond commercialist here is right, with the Enterprise and the ships in our sister star cruiser swallowed up and being adapted into your ships, we have no choice but to work together since we all share a common foe. Survival is our top priority, so we'll need each other's skills. As you plainly saw earlier."

Captain Magno nods "Well, no wonder you were made captain of the Enterprise, Enraiji. Aside from the powers you've gained through years of training, you are an altruistic and benevolent gentleman until a battle is taking place and must take action. But the question about the Taraak blonde gentleman is what is he?"

Bart smiles smugly "The truth is I am actually a helmsman."

Magno replies "Oh! You're a helmsman, are you?"

Pyoro warns, pointing at Bart, "Warning! Warning! This guy is trying to pull something!"

Magno looks at the robot, "Pyoro, keep quiet now." The robot, now dubbed Pyoro, bows "Sorry."

Captain Enraiji says, "Lead the way, Captain Magno, and let's see if this high class twit can really fly this amalgam of ships."

Captain Magno says, "I have no wish to be chummy, the men here from our universe are still going to be treated as our prisoners and the same could go for you but not your females here."

Bart chuckles nervously, "Whatever you say, madam."

Captain Enraiji says "Look, I've made a promise that should anything happen to Kenzaki's parents that I would look after him and I say that I haven't been around for about 17 years and Mioha has been away from her child in the our universe for over a decade! So, if you would let me assist you, I may control the men fighting out there beside your three women!"

Captain Magno notes the seriousness in Enraiji's words and nods "Very well, come with me. BC, take the little attacker to the warehouse." BC nods "Roger."

* * *

Back outside, the fight goes on.

"There's just too many of them!" says Jura "We've got to strike the main system!" The aqua-haired Dread leader replies "I agree. But if there was some way to get our supply ship mobilized——" BOOM! She is knocked aside by a blast.

Kenzaki apologizes "Sorry, Meia-san! I forgot that my fighter's blasters are more destructive than they should be. But I assure you that I'm not aiming for any of you!" "Don't talk to me!" snarls Meia.

"DON'T SNAP AT KENZAKI, MS. GISBORN!" shouts Enraiji, making Meia spin uncontrollably. Luckily this causes several of the enemy fighters from both the Xenons and Harvesters to crash into each other and explode.

* * *

Back in the corridor toward the warehouse, which happens to be cocooned in the crystal too…

"Looks like it'll be a while before it stabilizes," says Buzam, "I'm afraid there's not going to be too much hope for us if we can't get control of the ship. It would probably be the end of us if the men attack."

Hibiki says to BC "Hey." BC looks at him, "What is it?"

Hibiki confesses, "I know I haven't said too much to you so far but let me confess; I'm not really a Vanguard pilot nor a warrior, I'm just a Third Class parts mechanic. I didn't have the nerve to tell you before."

"I see," says BC "so what are you doing here?"

"That's a really funny question actually," Hibiki says "you see I got suckered into something stupid, stealing one of the Vanguards. I don't want you to get the wrong idea——"

"I guess our data on you men was incorrect;" says BC, "I've heard that men were a proud race. But who would've thought that they were such pathetic beings?"

Hibiki gasps in shock.

BC continues "No matter what the reason, aren't you here because of your pride? Or was it through the need to show proof of your existence? Male or female, it doesn't matter now. In situations like this, we're simply human beings who breathe the same oxygen as a life form. While there are people around you desperately trying to overcome this crisis, are you going to sit and curl up like a useless baby and wait for the final moments to come? What deficiencies are you trying to make up for? Who do you think you're fooling? No matter how much of a loser you are or how uncool you are, if you cower at every obstacle, your life will never change. Without change, your race will shrivel up and die. Do you understand that?"

Hibiki, feeling defeated, replies "I… I don't know… I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

Then BC and security leave him, deeming him unable to run away. She knows they cannot run away either.

Little does BC know, Kenzaki suddenly hears what she's telling Hibiki.

* * *

Out in space sheer numbers is slowly overwhelming the Dreads and new starfighters and the ship was taking a serious beating.

* * *

On the new bridge which is stories above the Bio Park…

Bart looks at the catwalk that leads to a circular platform overlooking the Bio Park below, and he asks the two captains "What's this thing?"

The young black-haired former navigations officer of the Enterprise, whose name is Ken, replies "From the looks of things, sir. It appears that the bridge and helm have been extended all the way out to there. If what Captain Enraiji theorizes is true, then the helm should control the ship's movements with your own."

Pyoro says, "It's amazing! Would you look at that?"

"Show us what you can do, young man" smirks Captain Magno.

She pushes him toward the platform, nearly causing him to fall. He screams and regains balance "Hey, watch it! This is dangerous!"

Looking at the mysterious glowing green water-like surface on the platform, Bart is amazed "What the heck? That guy, Ken, must be right."

Tsurugi groans "We're history. Does anybody know where there's a pub on this new tub? The old one must've been assimilated with the Enterprise." Celtic sighs disappointedly, "I'll race you there." Mioha says, "We can't drink right now! It's the middle of a battle!" Tsurugi gasps, "YOU CAN TALK?!"

The sudden shock from Tsurugi causes Bart to scream and fall over and have the glowing part of the platform to absorb him in through means of green tentacles! Then in a flashing pillar of green light, he vanishes into the platform!

Magno gawks with wide eyes "My goodness! What kind of device would do that?"

Pyoro gawks with wide eyes "I bet he doesn't know how to use it."

Shino gawks with wide eyes "Apparently the ship agrees with him becoming its helmsman."

* * *

The inside underneath the pool-like surface of the platform is like that inside a well. Bart is rendered into the nude within that well of grain and floating in midair within an orb of green looking outside, but what is getting to him is the fact that that he's seeing the enemies before him blasting at him!

He panics and swerves, surprisingly the cocooned ships moves in a similar motion along his movements.

* * *

Nami gasps "The crystal cocoons full of ships is moving! And at a very panicky manner it would appear. What kind of moron would be placed at the helm?"

Bart comes on her screen and squeaks out "Me."

"Oh, _that_ moron."

* * *

His movements shake up the entire and the enhanced crew within!

As Pyoro rolls around uncontrollably, Captain Magno says with wide eyes "Well, the ship moved."

Captain Enraiji firmly holds onto one of the chairs and says, "The poor kid needs some backbone, stat."

Ken gulps "And maybe proper crash course in flying this ship."

* * *

In the sick bay, with the power out and it's dark…

"Offline," sighs Duelo "just as I thought."

Then he grins and cracks his knuckles, stating out loud "Alright, looks like we have to do things _my_ way."

Rion puts on a serious look and stretches her fingers, "Great idea, doing things the _old_ _fashioned_ way."

This makes the Mejere female security officer who is assisting them very nervous, as she doesn't know what they mean by the _old fashioned_ way in medicine, so she turns to her communicator and calls, "Paiway-chan! Are you there, Paiway-chan?"

* * *

In the decontamination room, this is currently full of injured pirate crewmembers…

The buxom blonde wife of Captain Enraiji answers on the apprentice nurse's communicator, "Paiway's sleeping off the medicine I've given her and the other Dread pilots that were placed in the decontamination chamber. Tell Captain Magno that I've just inherited her role and responsibility as female _senior_ medical officer. Also try to trust in the Taraak doctor's skills."

The injured women are startled by the news from Barnette that Mio could perform genuine magic but they know they have other choice but to concede with her as the medical officer.

* * *

Hearing the news about Paiway's absence to her duty, Captain Magno sighs, "I'm afraid the title of senior medical officer completely overrules Paiway's role. Sorry."

* * *

Bart's latest course strategy comes into play: retreating from battle.

The Seed Ship and the Dragon-Broom Ship take interest and give chase.

Still hearing BC's words to Hibiki ringing in his head, Kenzaki frowns and shouts out "I don't care about my pride or my own existence! I've been curling up like a helpless child ever since my mother disappeared eleven years ago but I had to get out to see the world and face it so I could help them, and that's what I'm going to do, no matter what the odds are! I've grown tired of fooling everybody with the macho bravado I've had on to be strong, because I am strong in spirit! By just being myself, I have truly grown strong. Everyone can pick on me all they want, call me a loser and say that I'm lame. But all that doesn't make me those things; because I've got to do what I feel is right and all I have to do is keep moving forward into the progress of my life! I'll protect the weak and the helpless, even if it costs me my life! I'll even help those in need, no matter what the consequences! Everyone in my life matters the most!" then he punches in the thrusters, going after the enemy ships.

* * *

Unwittingly and unknown to him, Kenzaki's communicator has spread throughout the fusing ships and the starfighters.

* * *

Nami feels her heart opening, "Kenzaki…"

* * *

Koga sighs with a tear in his eye, "Man, he's definitely Kamen Rider material." His dog, Momotarou barks in agreement.

* * *

The security guard with BC says, "Did you have the communicator on during that time, ma'am? Everything he said sounded like he was answering your questions." BC shakes her head, "No… that male redhead must've heard what I've said to him through his heart or something."

* * *

With Mio, she blinks "Since the Force has become real, I guess it's strong with young Kenzaki. Just like his old man." Barnette sneezes and asks, "What?"

* * *

Hibiki hears Kenzaki's words and turns for the nearest communications console, "Can anyone hear me? Take these things off me! How do you expect me to do anything with them on?"

The aged female captain asks, "What's he talking about?" BC smirks "Leave this to me. What do you plan to do?" "I've decided to go and help you fight!" declares Hibiki.

"Fight? You?" asks BC. "So what if I am the real uncool loser?" asks Hibiki "I have grown tired of being that person I was!" "Are you serious? Is it man's nature or you trying to rebel?" asks BC.

Hibiki shouts "No! It's not the way it is! It's so that I too can become stronger, like him, and to prove my own existence! Besides Kenzaki Aono and I are alike; we may have been on the Ikazuchi for the wrong reasons, we may not be First Class Citizens, he may not be from our universe, we may not be a trained combat pilots, and I'm no soldier… but I am not going to stay here and do nothing and let my chance to see where my decisions take me be taken away by anyone. I'm no skilled pilot, but I don't care! I will fight! And I will follow the creed he believes the Kamen Riders should follow!"

BC pulls out a white device and presses a button, which releases the restraints on Hibiki. He runs toward the launch platform, where he last seen his 'partner'.

* * *

On the bridge, Meia reports to the captains "The enemies are intensifying their response, soon it may be hard to defend ourselves. The young man's performance rate since that ridiculous speech increased dramatically but we don't know long it will last."

"Reinforcements are en route" reports Captain Magno "although we don't know how helpful they'll be."

Meia is confused "Reinforcements?"

* * *

Heading to the launch platform, seeing his 'partner' changed into a yellow-and-white and more humanoid form, Hibiki looks in awe.

"Hey, partner…" sighs Hibiki in awe "it's like you've changed a little." Then he smiles a bit, "I'll just have to change myself too! I don't know how to pilot you, but I'll move you with my mind and will!"

Then he notices something in his pocket, he reaches in and pulls out a new golden transformation buckle with a greenish blue crystal core with points of white, red, and blue around it, Hibiki gasps "One of the Other World Riders, probably Kenzaki or Hana must've snuck this onto me while I wasn't looking."

The golden Vanguard, or Hibiki's partner, sputters and then gets up on its own. Hibiki gasps and shouts "Partner! You're moving on your own?!" It looks to Hibiki with its green eyes and says with an electronic version of his human partner's voice "Vanguard Hibiki, online. I await your entrance, partner." Its chest opens, revealing a new cockpit for Hibiki…

Touched by the transformed Vanguard's acceptance of Hibiki as its pilot and partner, Hibiki's eyes water a bit, "Thank you, partner!" then he leaps in. The chest closes as soon as Hibiki is in.

Vanguard Hibiki calls out, "Performance Rate increasing by 200%." "200 percent?" gasps Hibiki "You mean without me you can operate but you're at your best with me?" "Affirmative." "Alright, let's go partner! Let's prove that I exist!" "Roger!"

"I'm going with my decision to follow Kenzaki's Kamen Rider Code!"

WHOOSH! Vanguard Hibiki launches from the bay like a bullet out from the barrel of a gun and into battle!

The Harvesters turn their attention away from the ship and turn toward Hibiki, while the Xenon fighters and ship turn toward Kenzaki.

"What's that thing?" asks a disgusted Jura.

Hana sighs, "It's Hibiki Tokai, with an upgraded Vanguard."

Dita smiles "Meia, do you see? It's Mr. Alien! He's come to help us!"

"That's our reinforcements?" asks a shocked Meia.

Kenzaki sighs, "I'm not complaining." Then he shouts out "Hang on, Hibiki-san! I'm coming!"

Then he notices a strange display on his fighter's computer screen, "Live Mode?" blinks Kenzaki.

Then his fighter transforms; its sides stick out and rotate until they fold out into metallic avian wings, panels on the back and bottom shift backward with the thrusters forming a tail, claw-equipped manipulators or bird feet unfold from the bottom, the cockpit moves forward giving it a flexible neck and panels move back giving it a birdlike face. Then while a burst of flames excels from it, a voice calls out from it——

"Suzaku Blade, Live Mode… burning up!"

Meia's eyes widen, "Live Mode?"

Jura is entranced "It's so elegant!"

Hibiki says "Now _that_ is cool!"

Chousuke says "According to the computers, these fighters have Live Modes too!"

"Well," says Hana "let's go live!"

"Live Mode!" call out Chosuke, Nami, and Hana.

Chosuke's fighter folds and shifts mechanically in form: which is making the sides pulling their selves in while extending the body in a straight line. The front-most section opens up and folds over the sides of the other section, revealing a mechanical tiger head with the cockpit on top. The sides from the first section have legs out while two more legs pop out from behind. Finally, a whip-like tail extends in the rear. The completed tiger robot roars out, with a tornado appearing around it——

"Byakko Spear, Live Mode… charging forth!"

Nami's fighter breaks into multiple parts and then line up to reconnect into a straight tube-shaped form with multi-flex hinges. The blaster and landing gear reattach to form arms and legs. The back-center fin from behind the cockpit detaches and reattaches at one end while the cockpit reattaches to the other. Panels on the cockpit slide back to reveal eyes and form horns. A mouth from underneath the cockpit opens as it lets out a roar and a blaze of ice crystals around it——

"Seiryu Arrow, Live Mode… waving out!"

Hana's fighter's thrusters on its circumference twist and form into four legs, a short tail pokes out at one end, and her cockpit extends to reveal a metallic dinosaur-like head with a medium-length neck. Essentially, it has transformed into a giant robotic turtle. Asteroids form from behind it and burst as its voice calls out——

"Genbu Gun, Live Mode… slamming down!"

Meia gasps "They're animals!"

Jura shows ecstatic appreciation "They're all so elegant!"

Dita exclaims with joy "They're amazing! But not as amazing as Mr. Alien!"

"I'm not going be outmatched by your machines, Kenzaki!" smirks Hibiki.

"Lightning Flight Fist!" calls out Hibiki, thrusting his Vanguard's faist at the enemy. But nothing happens. The Harvester Octo-Fighters attack Vanguard Hibiki.

Hana groans, "Why did the poor guy think he could unleash lightning?"

"What? No ammo?" asks a slightly dazed Hibiki. Vanguard Hibiki replies "Partner, I don't have those kind of attacks. All I have in this form are melee weapons and close combat expertise, because you're still in a sense a rookie I still need to grow too. Sorry." Snapping out of the daze, Hibiki sighs "I understand, partner."

He then makes his partner reach for its sword and slashes it out at the enemy, which is proving more effective!

* * *

Back on the bridge, Ken calls out "The Xenons are advancing only towards Suzaku Blade!" Belvedere follows "While this other enemy is heading toward the golden Vanguard!"

Captain Magno says, "It doesn't look like he's going to live too long." BC nods "I agree. But if they all do survive through this little challenge, the world we've come to know will turn upside-down."

Amarone says, "Wait! Some of the Xenon fighters are transforming too!"

* * *

The Xenon Vultures' thin panel/wings fold back and producing new limbs as they flip over. The long-necked cockpits retract and turn to form short-necked heads and the block parts originally behind them unfold down to turn into legs, giving them a humanoid form. They unleash their assault unto the two mechanical beings they're focusing their attacks on at the moment.

"**Shredding Dash**!" Byakko Spear lunges at a few of both enemies, tearing them to shreds with its claws.

"**Blizzard Stream**!" Seiryu Arrow breathes a blue stream at the two extra cubes of Octo-Fighters coming from the Seed Ship, turning them into blocks of ice before exploding into dead weights in outer space.

"**Gravity Draw**!" Genbu Gun stands still and envelops itself in a semi-transparent green barrier. Enemy fighters couldn't help but come to her transformed fighter and smash into its exceptionally hard defensive shell before exploding without slight damage.

"**Blazing Swoop**!" Suzaku Blade envelops itself in red fire and circles around the remaining Xenon fighters, melting them before they finally explode.

Kenzaki growls, "Their warrior mode sure surprised me!"

Then Suzaku Blade's wings shift upward as the feet transform into arms and legs, the wings shift back into position, giving Kenzaki's machine an angelic body. The bird's mouth opens wide revealing a humanoid face to go with the new winged humanoid form. Then while a burst of flames excels from it, a voice calls out from it——

"Suzaku Blade, Warrior Mode… burning up!"

Hibiki frowns "Three transformations in one fighter each, Kenzaki and those three sure are lucky."

* * *

Koga, watching the battle, says "I agree."

* * *

Hana says to Hibiki, "Try the darn thing again, Hibiki, like back on the Enterprise!"

Vanguard Hibiki says "My performance will increase by 400% should you transform, partner." Hibiki grins, "Alright, transformations don't count; it's how well you perform!" He places the buckle back on, which this time forms a gold-colored segmented belt around his waist.

"Henshin!"

"**Guard Up**!" calls out the buckle, with a new upgraded voice.

FLASH! In a flash of greenish blue light, he is now armored in a new golden version of his armor, resembling his partner, with bright blue-green eyes! Kamen Rider Vanguard is born!

Kenzaki looks at his Blay Buckle and puts it aside, "There's always another time, I think." Then he communicates with Hibiki, "Kamen Rider Vanguard, do you read me? I'm going to take on the dragonfly ship, and you'll deal with the seed." KR Vanguard smiles under his helmet "That's right, prove the strength of you and your Tri-Former fighter before coating it in that power armor if it's possible!"

Hana ponders on it, "Tri-Former? I guess it could work."

KR Vanguard's eyepieces flash, while inside the helmet the armor's giving him instructions; "Alright, a finisher!" smirks KR Vanguard "and it's called 'Golden Kick', it's better than nothing!"

"Mr. Alien, wait up!" calls Dita, following Vanguard Hibiki!

Meia calls to the trainee pilot, "Dita, pull back!"

"There's nothing to worry about!" confidently replies Dita "Mr. Alien and the others are going to get us out of this in a flash! I'm absolutely positive!"

"Let's do this!" roars KR Vanguard.

"**Burning Flight**!" calls out Kenzaki and Suzaku in unison! The red transforming mecha spreads out its wings and envelops itself in great flames of red! Then it flies toward the Dragonfly Ship, which now shoots missiles at it in a similar fashion it did with its Xenon Vultures, but it continues on and collects the fire from each explosion with very little damage.

"**Golden Kick**!" calls out KR Vanguard and Vanguard Hibiki in unison! The golden mecha performs a flying side kick attack, with its right foot glowing in a luminescent golden radiance, tearing through every new enemy craft in its path and making its way to the Seed Ship.

In unison, Kenzaki and KR Vanguard roar out "I WON'T LOSE!"

Suzaku Blade's Burning Flight rips through the Dragonfly Ship and it catches fire on the outside before becoming enveloped in a series of explosions and finally goes in nova-like explosion.

Just as the Seed Ship had finished opening its mouth to launch another bunch of cube fighters, Vanguard Hibiki smashes into the ship, foot first. Dita's Dread kept following the machine.

The Seed Ship shudders for a moment before it finally explodes intensely…

* * *

"Looks like our little miracles went in self-sacrifice," sighs Captain Magno.

* * *

Then from out of the debris of both enemy ships coming something new——

A solid blue giant robot humanoid in shape with green outlines with long spike-like cannons mounted behind each shoulders. A pair of blades that glow with emerald light is on each forearm. What everyone is witnessing was the perfect combination of Hibiki's Vanguard and Dita's Dread fighter… Vandread Dita is born!

A blue rectangular field flies out from the other explosion before returning into the flames; it has a beetle with a spade on its back on the front. The flames clear to reveal a changed mecha——

The paint job has turned blue and the armor on the torso, arms, legs, and shoulders have turned silver. Spades are etched into the torso and shoulders. The giant robot's head is mainly blue save for the spade-shaped face, which is silver with a single horn and round red eyepiece. Sheathed at its left side is a large sword. Suzaku Blade has transformed into Kamen Robo Blade.

* * *

This shocks the pirates of Mejere out of their wits, while the Kamen Rider fans in the crew into pure interest.

"What is _that_?! Is it another secret weapon of the Taraak men?" asks Magno.

Buzam asks, "Is this... a real miracle?"

* * *

Kotaro smiles and nods, "Kenzaki Aono is definitely not the loser everyone thought he was."

Koga laughs "Damn straight! Did everybody see that? FTW, dudes! Ha ha!" Momotarou barks and dances around his master and friend.

Hayate hears his Imagin exclaiming——

'_Those shaggy jerks stole the big climax! I wanted to be part of it!_'

'_Their strength makes me cry!_'

Hayate sighs "It's tough to have mental roommates. But Kenzaki really did good out there."

* * *

Within the new Vandread…

Hibiki, un-transformed, mentally sighs '_I made it… I finally made it…_' It's all over. Then he realizes something, '_Wait a minute… what's my hands on… and what is on my…_'

He finds out that he's in some new kind of cockpit, sitting in a chair restraining him with his hands resting on the green orb-like control pads while also resting on another pair of hands. The owner of said hands is sitting in his lap; Dita is sitting in his lap!

He freaks "What the heck is going on here?!"

Kenzaki/KR Blade gasps, "How… embarrassing."

Chousuke closes his eyes "How… new."

Nami sweat-drops "How… intimate."

Hana stares, "How mature."

Meia gawks "How… disturbing."

Jura smiles with appreciation, "How… elegant!"

"HUH?" exclaims the group who were fighting alongside Jura as they gawk at her for her response.

"Mmmmm… I just knew that Mr. Alien would protect us," says Dita, who is half-asleep as she leans back against Hibiki and snuggles close.

Hibiki asks himself out loud, "Huh? Is this the proof of my existence?!"

To be continued…


End file.
